To The Creature Rescue!
by Carlosedu1
Summary: How did everything begin? How did the Kratt brothers meet Aviva, Jimmy and Koki? What was the price of pursuing this dream? If you think it was easy for them, think again. They had to risk a lot and go through many traumatic experiences to save the animals and defeat the villains. rated T because nobody knows what will happen next. hehehe... (SURPRISE COMING SOON!)
1. A Not-So-Happy Experience

**Author Notes: Hello everyone! This is my very first WK fanfic, so I hope you enjoy! This is the beggining of everything, and it will be a long and tough journey for the Kratts not to only become Wild, but also to become SURVIVORS! They will be forced to do things they never thought they were able to do in order to become WILD KRATTS!**

**PS: This is my version of the facts, it has nothing to do with the stories written so far. :)  
**

_**=========================================(To The Creature Rescue)===============================================**_

It was morning in the African savannah, far from any kind of civilization, only the wild life following its course. Everything seemed normal, with only one… or two exceptions. Two brothers, one dressed in green, had brown hair and eyes. The other one, dressed in blue, had light brown hair and blue eyes. Lying on a hill, they were watching what they expected it to be an "epic" battle for territory between a group of male lions and a pride. The two were looking forward to the fight, while the one dressed in blue was filming everything in a conventional video camera, and the one dressed in green was taking notes of what was happening there.

"So?" The one dressed in green asked.

"The enemy group is approaching the pride" The one dressed in blue replied.

"Are there any cubs?" The one dressed in green asked again.

"Four, five, six cubs!" The one dressed in blue said "It will be difficult for them all to survive!"

"I hope they all end up okay" The one dressed in green said worried.

The enemy Lion group approached the pride, roaring as a form of threat. The two males of the pride put themselves in front of the three enemy lions, determined to protect their territory and their group. They threatened each other for a few minutes before the big fight begins. The enemy group moved violently on the males of the pride, while the cubs ran to hide.

"Wo-oah" The one dressed in blue exclaimed, filming everything "Now that's what I call an epic creature battle"

"And that's what I call an unfair battle" The one dressed in green said, taking notes "They're Three against two, the pride is in disadvantage! Wish we could help them..."

The lions settled a hard fight for territory, where the ones from the pride seemed to be losing. The two brothers watched the battle for some time until one of them notices something strange.

"Um... Chris?" The one dressed in blue called.

"What?" The one called Chris replied.

"I think I lost one the lions" His brother said, worried.

"What do you mean, 'lost one of the Lions'?" Chris asked, in a serious tone.

"I don't know... I can no longer see the third enemy lion!" His brother said, searching the area with the video camera.

"That's impossible, he was right there a few moments ago! Let me see it." Chris said, taking the camera from his brother.

It turned out that the lion had actually vanished, what left the brothers curious about where he was.

"Maybe he is after the cubs!" the one dressed in blue said, considering the worst.

"No, I saw them hiding in the grass, the lions didn't find them" Chris said, giving the camera back to his relieved brother.

"He wouldn't just walk away... would he?" the one dressed in blue asked, confused.

"I don't know, it's not something a lion wou-" he barely finished the sentence when he was interrupted by a deep lion's roar coming from behind the two, making them freeze right where they were. They stood there for a few seconds until Chris finally asked:

"M...Ma...Martin?" Chris whispered.

"Um...Yeah...?" The one called Martin Whispered back, clearly aware of the danger.

"Please tell me that was your stomach..." Chris whispered, hoping to have yes for an answer.

"Wish it was..." Martin said, looking at his brother with a frightened face.

So, the two finally looked back to see the obvious: the third lion slowly approaching them. Their eyes widened as they looked forward again.

"We need to get to our jeep... without being caught." Chris said, getting up slowly.

Then, the two stood up and began to move softly towards the jeep, while the lion slowly approached them. They were a few feet from the vehicle when Martin got overbalanced and fell. The quick movement caused the lion to consider them a threat, advancing toward them.

"Oh, great - RUN!" Chris said, grabbing Martin's arm and pulling him towards the jeep.

Both brothers ran and jumped in the jeep and then Chris tried to start the engine, but it would not start.

"Ah, Come on!" He said, desperately trying to get them out of there. It took some time for the engine to finally start, and then he drove the fastest he could away from there, while the lion tried to reach them. Luckily, male lions cannot waste too much energy, so he soon stopped running, relieving both brothers.

"Phew... that was close, bro!" Martin said, sitting back on his seat.

"Yeah, _too_ close! You should have been keeping an eye on the lions, you can't just let'em walk away like that! What if they were after the cubs!"

"Wait, are you trying to blame me?!" Martin said, indignantly. "You were perfectly able to see them, even at that distance. Besides, the only reason that lion didn't attack the cubs was..." he suddenly stopped talking, changing the face of anger for concern "...because _we_ were there." He finished, in a sad tone.

Chris, then, understood the brother's concern, moving from angry to worried "No...Oh no, the cubs! Martin, the lions must be after them now!" he said, alarmed.

"The poor little things won't be safe forever... we should have done something! We shouldn't have left without helping them!" Martin said, feeling guilty.

"Martin, there was nothing we could do! We weren't even able to take care of ourselves, how were we supposed to take care of the cubs in the middle of a battle?" Chris asked, trying to make Martin calm down, unsuccessfully.

"Of course there was something we could have done! There were many things we could have done, like..." He hesitated, making it clear that he had no Idea of what to say.

"Like...?" Chris asked, expecting that Martin would give an idea that was reasonably possible.

After a moment, Martin, instead of answering Chris' question, heaved a deep sigh and leaned back on his seat, realizing that there was no way that they could have saved the poor cubs. It was clear to Chris that his brother was feeling responsible for what would happen to the cubs from that moment on.

"It's not your fault." Chris said, trying to comfort his brother "Things like that happen every time in the wild. Even if we did help _those_ cubs, there would be other one hundred that we wouldn't be able to save, because that's how the nature works. You know it, I know it." He finished, smiling at his brother.

"Thanks, bro" He said, returning the smile.

"So anyway..." Chris said, returning to their discussion "just try to be a little more careful next time... we may not be as lucky as we were back there" He finished.

"Okay, sorry about that..." Martin finally said "...Oh, and by the way, did you write everything I told you back there?"

"Oh, yeah, my notebook is right..." He was searching the area around his seat, looking for his notebook, until his eyes widened and he said "Oh-oh..."

"'Oh-oh' what?" Martin asked, suspiciously

"My notebook... it's not here!" Chris said looking around his seat, just to confirm his fears.

"What do you mean, 'it's not here'?" Martin asked, impatient.

"Aw, man! I must have dropped it in the run!" Chris said, slapping his forehead.

"And you accused me of not being careful!" Martin said, staring at Chris with a disdain face.

"Well... Have you still got your camera?" he asked, trying to take the attention off him.

"Yes!" He said, pulling up his camera, intact "I filmed everything. It's all here."

"Phew... we would be in real trouble in university if it weren't!" Chris said.

"You should put a little more faith in me, bro!" Martin said, putting down the camera.

"Yeah, yeah, alright..." Chris said, unconcerned.

"And you could start by letting me drive." Martin said, smirking.

"Ha-ha, no way!" Chris said, smirking back at his brother.

"Chris, we both know that the older brother drives." He said, insistent.

"I drive perfectly well, thank you!" He said, offended.

"Nobody said you don't, I just think that I shoul- CHRIS LOOK OUT!" Martin shouted as his eyes widened for something ahead of them.

"Oh, please! Do you really think I am going to fall for that tha-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH HHHHHH!" Chris shouted when he saw that there actually was a big rock ahead of them. He panicked, desperately trying to stop the jeep, but there was no time. The jeep hit the rock at high-speed, which made it literally fly for a while, until it hit the ground with a bang, breaking all the glass in the windows. The jeep rolled at least twice before stopping on its right side. The two brothers were still trapped by the seatbelt when it finally stopped rolling, leaving them with a few injuries. Still conscious, Chris came loose from the seat belt with some effort and crawled out of the jeep, slightly dazed. Soon, he went to rescue his brother, who was still stuck in the seat belt.

"Martin!" he called, trying to loosen the belt of his brother. By the pained expression that he did, Chris assumed he was conscious "Bro, you alright?"

"Aargh!" Martin groaned, placing his hand on his face, because it had been injured by shards of glass.

"We gotta take you out-of-THERE you go!" He said, releasing his brother from the seatbelt, making him fall from the seat, hitting his face on the ground. Martin then, pushed himself up, saying:

"I'm sorry... what did you say?" He asked, sarcastically "'I drive perfectly well, thank you!'" He imitated, making a stupid voice.

"Not funny! How are we going to get back now?" Chris asked, looking at the jeep that was distorted due to the impact.

"Let's... Let's try to turn it around and see if it still works..." Martin said, clearly still feeling the pain from the injuries. Both brothers got hurt after the accident. Martin had suffered a cut on his forehead and another one a few inches below the eye, apart from bruises and some other cuts through arms and legs. Chris had only a bruise on his forehead because he had hit his head on the steering wheel when the Jeep flipped over, and an open cut in his arm, which would need stitches. Both Martin and Chris put the jeep upright again. Martin groaned when he saw the damage it had taken.

"This is not good..." He said, worried "Do you really think it still works?"

"There's only one way to find out..." Chris said, going inside the jeep to test the engine. He slowly turned the key, hearing the engines start working again. But he didn't even have time to smile because it suddenly snapped and began to smoke. "WHOA!"

"TURN IT OFF, QUICK!" Martin shouted, seeing the dense smoke coming out from the engine. Chris stopped the engines, trying to get out of the vehicle that had been covered with a smoke that smelled like gasoline. He began coughing as he ran away from the vehicle, stopping next to his brother, a few meters away from the jeep.

"Okay... don't turn on the engines..." Chris said, frightened.

"Deal..." Martin said, approaching the vehicle once again to see if there was any more damage.

"Ooh... How are we gonna explain this?!" Martin asked, looking at the vehicle.

"It won't matter much if we still have the filmed material..." Chris said.

"Ah, no, NO!" Martin shouted as he ran back to vehicle and started searching the inside "Chris, the camera!"

"Ah no... No no no no no, not the camera!" Chris Said, almost panicking when Martin finally found the camera, in pieces.

"Ooh..." He said when the pieces of the camera fell through his fingers "Yeah, that's it, NOW we're screwed!"

"Argh... Now what?" Chris groaned, looking to the ground.

"Umm... the team camp can't be far from here..." Martin said, looking to the horizon of the savannah "...We could go back by feet... it might take about half an hour."

"Oh well, guess there's no other option..." Chris sighed, accepting the idea.

"Shall we go, then?" Martin said as he started to walk towards the direction where they expected the camp to be.

"Wait..." Chris said, making Martin stop walking.

"What?" Martin asked, a bit impatient.

"We can't just leave it here!" Chris said, pointing at the jeep.

"What do you mean? It's broken!" Martin said, confused.

"Well, abandoning it in the wild is certainly is not a good idea" He said.

"Because...?" Martin wondered, waiting for a convincing response.

"Well, first, because there might be a way to fix it, and second... You know what will happen to us if we don't return the jeep!" Chris warned, in a serious tone. Only then Martin realized that they would be in a much worse situation if they decide to abandon the jeep in the middle of the wild.

"Okay, so what's your plan? Push it all the way back to the camp?" Martin joked, expecting Chris to give another idea.

_**============================================(10 Minutes Later)=================================================**_

Both brothers were struggling to push the jeep back to camp, even though they were hurt, under the blazing sun of Africa.

"_I-can't believe-you convinced-me-to-do this!"_ Martin complained, as he tried to push the heavy jeep.

"_Argh... Less talking-more pushing!"_ Chris groaned, stressed by the situation they were in.

"_Ah__, __that's great__...__Maybe next time you'll want to bring a rhino with us__? __Or better__: __An elephant__! __They __certainly __should not __be harder to __push __than this piece of junk__..."_ Martin complained once again, clearly testing Chris' patience.

"_SHUT UP!"_ Chris shouted, finally losing his patience with Martin, so the two kept pushing the jeep back to the camp.

_**===================================(30 Minutes Later, Back in the Camp)===========================================**_

The rest of the team was just waiting for the brothers to arrive, since they had been out since the morning and didn't give any news about their progress for 7 hours. Their camp was basically two big tents, where the team of about six people was working on whatever they had to, plus 5 minor tents in the case they had to spend the night on the site. The whole team was worried about Chris and Martin, but one of them was almost freaking out because of them.

"Any sign of the Kratts?!" A woman asked to one of her colleagues, running out of patience.

"I'm sorry-n-no." Her colleague said, frightened. "But...I-I'll keep looking!" He said, quickly putting his binoculars on his eyes, looking to all sides, hoping to see them soon.

"_Argh! I can't believe it!"_ She said, angry _"I told them not to stop radio contact, and guess what? They forgot their radio communicators! AGAIN!"_ She finished, gritting her teeth. By her look, you could tell that she had pulled her hair out of her head by the stress she was going through. Not that there was a big difference between this and her normal look. She had short dark red hair, which seemed to be always tousled. She had green eyes and freckles all over her face. She wore brown shorts and an orange top, with a purple sweater above it, with big square glasses that make her eyes look bigger than they actually were. She walked from one side to the other, groaning something for herself, and when nobody was looking, biting her nails. She was deeply worried about the Kratts, not because she actually cared for them... well, only a bit, but because the university only sent her there to make sure that they wouldn't make something stupid or get involved in any accidents, so if anything happens to them or the team's equipment, _SHE_ was going to be responsible for everything. She kept this thought until someone finally called her name.

"Darlene, come here!" A man from the team called, so she approached him the fastest she could.

"What is it? Did you see them?!" She immediately asked, desperate for answers.

"Well..." Her colleague started, without actually knowing what to tell her about what he saw.

"'_WELL' WHAT?!"_ she shouted, wanting a quick and straight answer.

The poor guy couldn't do anything but point at somewhere in the horizon. She had to stare at the pointed direction for a few seconds to find what he was pointing at: a jeep, slowly coming in their direction. She stared for a few minutes, along with the rest of the group until she realizes that something bad had happened: The Kratts were hurt, pushing the jeep from the back, and it was pretty much destroyed.

"Oh, for the love of..." She groaned, when both Martin and Chris stopped pushing the jeep and tottered to one of the tents. Darlene immediately walked towards them asking "What did you guys do this time?"

"Hum..." Martin started, looking for a way to tell the story that didn't make it look so bad "We...had a bit of..._trouble._"

"What-do-you-mean-_trouble_?!" She asked with a look of someone who was about to explode.

"Okay, look..."Chris stepped in before Martin could say something that makes her even angrier "We had an... accident... and we need some medical care."

"_WHAT? How did you...? Grrrrr, _okay, fine! Bring the first aid kit!" She yelled to the rest of the team to follow her orders. They immediately started moving from one place to another, looking for the medical kit "You two, in the tent, _NOW_!" She yelled at the Kratt brothers, who immediately did what she said, walking to the tent, followed by the rest of the team with the first aid kit, and they soon began to treat cuts and bruises they had suffered. Some, however, could only be treated by a doctor, since those would need stitches. They stayed like that for a few minutes until Darlene finally came up and stood right in front of where they had sat down. She stared at the ground for a few moments, with her hand on her face, until she finally looked at them and began to talk.

"_You two."_ She began _"Explain yourselves. Quickly!"_

Both Martin and Chris stared at each other for a few seconds, making expressions that were telling that neither of them would like to start. After other 3 seconds, Chris finally took a deep breath and then started:

"Well...There were Lions...a pride and an enemy group."

"_**And... They were about to fight!"**_ Martin continued right after Chris.

"We were there"

"_**We were filming everything!"**_

"The enemy group approached."

"_**And they began to fight!"**_

"And the cubs went to hide!"

"_**It was epic."**_

"Everything was fine, until Martin lost one the lions."

"_**WE lost him!"**_

"No, you did! And we couldn't find him!"

"_**He vanished completely."**_

"Until..."

"_**A roar..."**_

"A deep roar"

"_**Coming from, guess where?"**_

"From right behind us..."

"_**We looked back."**_

"And there he was!"

"_**Slowly approaching!"**_

"We slowly got up."

"_**Trying to get to the jeep."**_

"And then Martin fell..."

"_**Yeah, I fell..."**_

"And then the lion ran"

"_**So we ran"**_

"And I lost my notebook in the run..."

"_**Ha, ha!"**_

"Stop it. We hopped into the jeep."

"_**And it didn't want to start."**_

"I tried again and again..."

"_**The lion was approaching..."**_

"And in the last second..."

"_**VRUMM!"**_

"It finally started"

"_**And we hurried out of there!"**_

"That was close."

"_**Really close!"**_

"We were driving, and we began to argue."

"_**YOU began to argue, saying that I'm not careful with stuff!"**_

"Because you're really not careful!"

"_**Do you really wanna come up with this now?**_

"Whatever! So then we remembered about the cubs."

"_**Those poor cubs!"**_

"The poor things must be suffering now!"

"_**And there was... nothing we could do."**_

"At all."

"_**And we kept talking half the way."**_

"Then he began to insist on wanting to drive."

"_**I was the one supposed to be driving!"**_

"And we argued again."

"_**I really should have driven!"**_

"And then there was a rock."

"_**A bad rock!"**_

"Right in our way!"

"_**And Chris lost control over the jeep."**_

"No, WE lost control over it!"

"_**No, you did! So we hit the rock and flipped over."**_

"We literally flew above the hill!"

"_**That was cool!"**_

"And then we hit the ground."

"_**That was not cool!"**_

"The jeep rolled over the ground."

"_**At least twice..."**_

"And then it stopped."

"_**We were still in there..."**_

"And we ended up like this!"

"_**So we tried to turn it around"**_

"To see if it still worked."

"_**We turned it on, but then it made 'Pfffffff-POW'!"**_

"And it smoked."

"_**A lot."**_

"Then we remembered..."

"_**My camera!"**_

"Ha, ha!"

"_**Shut up! It was in pieces..."**_

"Tiny little pieces!"

"_**We lost everything!"**_

"The jeep, the material..."

"_**And we couldn't leave it there!"**_

"So we pushed the remains of the jeep back here"

"_**All the way back for over 40 minutes!"**_

"Under this blazing sun!"

"_**And even hurt!"**_

"And that's how we got here..." Chris finished with an insecure smile.

When they finished the story, Darlene and the rest of the team were staring at them with an expression of hopelessness, keeping it for at least 10 seconds until she slapped her forehead moaning _"__Why do you guys __keep doing __this to me__? All I wanted was you guys to do a simple job, __but you __managed to __get in trouble__! __You guys __always manage to__! __Only you__! __How? __Tell me__, why these__ things always __happen only __with you__?!" _She asked them with a despair expression, making them just as scared of her as they were before.

"We've asked this same question to ourselves for years..." Martin said, frightened.

"_GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"_She walked away and again began to walk from one side to another. Both Chris and Martin no longer knew what to say to her, because they knew she was just as desperate as they were. After a few moments, Chris finally said:

"Darlene, look..." He started "We are so sorry about this..."

"It doesn't matter if you're sorry or not, thanks to _YOU_, now we're all in trouble!" She said, not knowing what to do. Not just her, but both brothers also were worried about what would happen at the university when they returned. They remained like that for only a few minutes, but it seemed like hours. They could hear a woman of the team sobbing, probably afraid of losing her job. Their other colleagues quickly went to comfort her, looking at the Kratts with a disappointment expression. Darlene was right. It was all their fault. Their actions could cost not only their jobs at the university, but their entire team's jobs. This was a hard thought for them. They would be responsible for what would happen to their team... well, them AND Darlene. They felt awful, and there was nothing they could do. They lowered their heads, not wanting to look at the rest of the group. Suddenly, Martin got up and started walking, snorting all the time, seems to have gone from guilty to angry in an instant. Everyone then looked at him, clearly confused.

"What's gotten into you?" Darlene asked, not understanding Martin's reaction. He just grunted something in response, walking from one side to the other like she used to.

"Martin?" Chris asked, standing up "Are you okay?"

It took some time until Martin finally look at his brother and say "Enough."

"What?" Chris asked, not understanding what his brother meat to say.

"That's enough for me. I don't have to tolerate this!" He said looking to rest of the team.

"Wait, so, you're quitting?" Darlene asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Yes, I am!" He said "I'm tired of this! I don't want to work for that university anymore!"

"How so? You always wanted to study animals, to be surrounded by animals, to _be_ an animal!"

"But is it really worth everything that is going on?" Martin raised his voice "I don't want to work for someone, I want to work for myself, do it my way! Make it something enjoyable, and I think we both agree that _this _is far from being enjoyable!"

"Of course it isn't enjoyable, but do you really think we have other choice?" Chris said, raising his voice as well "The only reason why we're here is because we don't have other choice. We can't just leave our jobs, we would be doomed!"

"But I can't handle working for..." Martin paused, as if to say something that he did not wish to say _"...Him!"_

"I presume you are referring to the Dean Grayson." Darlene said, stepping closer.

"Who else?!" Martin retorted, making a face of disgust "That man is so full of himself... always telling people about all the studies he done, his qualifications, How long he has worked in there, and he always thinks he is above everyone else... That man is so... so...!"

"Urgh... I know." Darlene said making the same face of disgust "Nobody wants to know how many decades he has been working on the biology department..."

"We shouldn't be doing this..." Martin said making a sad face "We could be doing so much better things for animals, but _this_ is just not working..."

"Yeah... and we still have to deal with the Dean..." Chris, said, looking down.

"What are we going to tell him?" Martin asked, concerned.

"I don't know, but I know what _he_ is going to say." Darlene began, trying to imitate the voice of a man _"THIS IS..."_

"_...UNACCEPTABLE!"_ The Dean Grayson shouted, standing up.

They were back to the USA, in the University of New Jersey. **(Note: I'll just call it University of new Jersey because I was too lazy to pick an actual university) **The Kratts, Darlene and the rest of the research crew were in the Dean's office. He was a short old man, with gray short hair and a moustache, who was always wearing a gray suit. It was a very expensive room compared to the rest of the university, due to the luxury furniture and old paintings hanging in the white walls. Apart from the paintings, there were many qualification certificates hanging in the walls, some framed in brilliant dark wood, and others in a bright yellow wood that, seen from afar, looked like gold. Chris and Martin were standing right in front of the Dean's table, a large and expensive desk of dark wood, with ornaments in every corner, with a small potted plant in the right corner of the table, an ID card saying "Dean Dr. Benjamin Grayson", a black phone from the '50s and a golden picture frame containing a photo of Dean Grayson himself, only younger.

"_I cannot believe in you all!"_ He resumed _"You were sent there for researching, not to play with university's equipment! Do you know how much that jeep cost us?"_ He directed the word to the brothers. The soon realized he wanted a quick response, and then Martin said:

"Umm... no...?"

"_Well, then look at this!"_ The Dean pushed a paper in their direction. Chris picked up the paper, which was full of a tiny writing, but what was really important was in the end of the paper: sixty thousand dollars! His eyes widened when he saw the value of the damage they had caused. Martin soon noticed his brother's expression and took the paper from his hands, just to have the same surprise expression.

"This can't be right!" Martin said, staring at the zeros "That jeep wasn't even one of the best!"

"_That is not the matter Mr. Kratt!"_ He said with his deep voice _"I warned you this would be the last time I would tolerate any more of your 'accidents'! I worked here for over 40 years, I studied hard my entire life, and now I'm stuck with two __incompetents __who cannot perform __the simplest of __jobs__"_ he said, walking next to them.

"But, sir, this was an accident...!" Chris said, trying to defend himself.

"_Then in this case you two should have never left driving school!"_ He shouted, pointing his finger at Chris's face, making him stop talking and lower his head _"Now give me a good reason not to fire you two!"_

Chris and Martin looked at each other, knowing that there was no reason for him not to fire them. Chris was about to say something, when Darlene suddenly stepped in.

"Wait! It is _my_ fault, sir!" She said. Everyone in the room then stared at her with wide eyes. They didn't expect _her_ to take the blame for their situation. The Dean Grayson slowly walked towards her, asking:

"What do you mean, Ms. McAllister?"

"It is my fault... I should have watched them through the whole trip, but I refused to follow them in that moment. If I had been there, this would not have happened." She finished

"_Well, I did tell you not to leave these two alone, Ms. McAllister!"_ He said, pointing at her nose _"I am very disappointed in you!"_

There was silence for a few moments, until The Dean Grayson finally went back to his desk saying _"We'll have a serious conversation tomorrow, miss! And about the rest of you, out, NOW!"_

The whole team left the office, one by one, and Chris and Martin were the last. They stood in the corridor as the team walked way looking at them with sad expressions, except for Darlene, that approached them saying "You two owe me this one, okay?!" and then leaving. The Kratt Brothers were left in the corridor, looking at the floor, not sure of what to do next. They were feeling terrible, not willing to talk or even look at each other. They felt alone. They _were_ alone.

_**=============================================(To be Continued)================================================**_

_**Author Notes: So, what do you guys think? I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, feel free to rate and review! :)**_

_**Surprise coming soon!**_


	2. Make Our Own Opportunity

_**Author Notes: Hi Guys, Thank you so much for your support! It gave me great confidence to write this next chapter. YOU GUYS ARE SO AMAZING! 3**_

_**It took long, but here it is! Enjoy the second chapter!**_

_**=======================================(Chapter 2: Make our own opportunity)========================================**_

Later that evening, Chris came home exhausted. He was not willing to do anything. All he wanted to go back to his apartment and lie down after that depressing day. He parked the car in front of the building, climbed the stairs to the third floor and entered the apartment. It was quite small, with only one bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen and a small living room that only had a couch, an armchair and a coffee table. He laid down on the couch, only then realizing that he was still sore because of the accident. He slowly lay down, placing his head over an old small cushion. He remained that way for at least two minutes until he started to hear noises from the upstairs apartment. It sounded like someone was jumping around there. Then the noise stopped, leaving Chris relieved. This was until someone started playing loud punk music in the apartment from above. And the music just got louder and louder, upsetting him even more.

"Aw, gimme a break!" He shouted, hoping that whoever was upstairs could hear it. Unfortunately, the music only got louder, making Chris give up on sleeping. He then got up, and started walking around the small room, thinking about the latest events. He was feeling guilty for everything, unsure of what to do. Then He remembered: The cubs. He could not forget about them, always wondering what had happened to them. He wished they had done something... wished they had saved them. He kept that thought until he remembered what he told Martin: _'Things like that happen every time in the wild. Even if we did help those cubs, there would be other one hundred that we wouldn't be able to save, because that's how the nature works. You know it, I know it'. _They wouldn't be able to save all of them. But it wasn't about all the cubs, it was about... about... he didn't know what it was about, it was too complicated even for him. Chris, then, looked inside his bedroom, looking at a drawing table that was inside. He then walked next to the table, surrounded by scratched and dented papers. Some of them had sketches that looked like human-shaped animals. There were several biology and creature anatomy books scattered around the floor of the bedroom. Those sketches were his perspective of human beings with creature powers. He picked up a paper with a drawing of a human with shark powers. He stared at it, thinking "You're not the only one who can dream, Martin..." He then sat down and began to draw under a bright table lamp. He drew for hours, combinations of humans and animals, until he finally fell asleep above the table.

Not far from there, Martin was already back to his apartment, feeling just as upset as Chris was. His apartment in the fourth floor was a bit bigger, with two bedrooms, which one of them was an improvised office, kitchen, bathroom, and a living room that contained two couches, a coffee table, a small TV and an old videogame console. All he wanted was to take that heavy thought out of his mind, so he turned on the TV, to see if there was anything that could distract him. He soon began to change channels, looking for something good to watch. He passed at least thirty different TV channels. Nothing did actually interest him until he had his attention caught by the news channel. He turned up the volume to hear what the newsreader was saying:

"_...The famous TV Chef Gourmand has been removed from his position for being involved with an illegal scheme of endangered wildlife trafficking. The chef of French origin naturalized American had his own TV cooking show called 'The Greedy Gourmand Show' __**(Note: That's because gourmand is French for greedy XD) **__Where he used to prepare uncommon dishes that contained secret ingredients, until this point. Recent investigations showed that he used many rare or endangered animals in his so called 'special' dishes. In a recent search made in his residence in Los Angeles, California, were found cages where dozens of wild animals were trapped, with no supplies such as food or water. There were three men in the house when the police broke in, and were both arrested. Two of them claimed to be innocent, but the third man confessed that they were all involved in the illegal scheme, but Mr. Gourmand himself was not found. There are__witnesses__who claim__having seen him__escape__a few days ago, __his whereabouts are unknown..."_

"My Goodness..." Martin said, muting the channel. He never like that show, he knew there was something wrong with that man. He quickly changed the channel, not wanting to hear those news. He never liked people who treat animals badly, or even to refer to them in a bad joke. He then started to go through children's channels. One thing he noticed about them is that they didn't offer any kind of animal information for kids; they keep that for those complicated documentaries for adults. "Learning about the wild can be fun..." He thought, changing channels again, and again, and again... Martin started to feel sleepy, he looked at his watch, and it was 00:12. He kept changing channels, until his eyelids began to feel heavy. He held the remote control until the moment he finally fell asleep, leaving the TV on.

_**===============================================(The Next Day)================================================**_

Both brothers were awakened by the noise of alarm clocks. They woke up yawning, only then realizing that they didn't sleep on their beds. It took a little long for them to look at the time: It was 9:45. Their eyes widened when they saw that they were forty five minutes late for work.

"_Oh, Lord, I'm late!"_ They both said, as they ran to change clothes the fastest they could. There was no more time for a shower or a decent breakfast. All they did was change a shirt and fill their mouths with the first thing they found in their fridges. Both ran to their cars and drove the fastest they could to get to the university. The traffic, unfortunately, did not collaborate.

"Aw, Come on!" They both said, trying to leave the traffic jam. It took them almost 15 minutes to leave the avenue chaos. Luckily, the university was not so far from their apartments, so when they left the traffic jam, they quickly arrived at the university and parked their cars in opposite sides of the campus. They ran the to the Biology department, which was in the east side of the university. They passed through two different entrances in the block, going to the first floor, just for the two to meet right in front of their office door.

"_**Wait, are you...? What are you...? Argh, just get inside... No, you get inside! Stop**__** saying **__**the **__**same thing as me**__**! No, you stop...! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"**_ They both tried to speak to each other at the same time. They looked at each other for a few moments, both in a hurry, when they tried to get through the office door at the same time, and it wasn't big enough for them to both to get in, so they squeezed through the door and fell on the floor, one over the other. They were trying to get up when they hear a familiar female voice saying "You are late". They put their heads up to see who it was, and both exclaimed:

"_Darlene?!"_ They said, getting up from the floor.

"Hello, Lads." She said, writing something in a clipboard. She was actually looking much better than in the early days, her hair was brushed, and she was wearing a bit of makeup, which covered some of the freckles in her face.

"What are you doing here? You work in the herpetology lab!" Martin said, cleaning his shirt.

"I used to work in there, but thanks _to _your little_ fiasco _in Africa, now I'm in charge of making sure you two will behave from now on!" She said, without taking her eyes off the clipboard.

"Sorry, but, we tried that in Africa, and it ended up in a _car accident_!" Chris said, snapping his fingers to call Darlene's attention.

"Oh, thank you for reminding me of my failure!" Darlene said, now looking at his eyes.

"Oh, come on! We both know that it wasn't your fault!" Chris said.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is! The Dean Grayson is blaming everyone that was in there since it is entirely your fault!" She said, pointing at Chris and Martin. It was a little Harsh, but true.

"So now... _You're_ gonna watch us working?" Martin said, making a face of fear "I don't think this is a good idea..."

"You _think?! _I'm perfectly sure that this isn't a good idea, but now we'll have to handle it if we want to keep our jobs!" She said, heading to door "I'll be back soon, so, _please_, don't do anything stupid!" she said before slamming the door behind her. The Two Brothers were left in the office, which was not quite big. There were only two desks, two bookshelves in both sides of the room, full of books related to biology. There was only one window in the right side of the room, and differently from the other offices, there was no thermostat. They had to bear both hot and cold seasons in that room.

"Alright, _now_ she's starting to annoy me..." Martin said, sitting on his desk.

"You know it is not her fault..." Chris said, trying to defend her, because he knew that she was also in a bad situation now, thanks to _them_.

"What do we do now?" Martin asked "We no longer have the film or your annotations... We were supposed to work on a pride's behavior under attack of other Lions, but now, I think we don't have anything to do..."

"Oh yeah... We were supposed to present this to the faculty in two days..." Chris said, putting his hands on his head, as if he were already with a headache.

"Guess we'll have to cancel it... _again_..." Martin said, looking down.

"For the fourth time?" Chris said, making a worry expression to his brother "You know that they do not tolerate this kind of attitude! Calling them for a meeting and them cancel it in the last minute?"

"Well, what choice do we have? We can't gather the faculty and show up empty handed!" Martin said, now looking at Chris. He stood for while, thinking of anything they could do about that. After a few moments, Chris said:

"_Fine_... make the call..." Chris said, starting to walk around the room. Martin, then, picked up a phone that was above his desk and called the rectory of the university. It took some time before he began talking to the attendant.

"Hello, here Is Martin Kratt from the Biology department, I would like to cancel a meeting with the faculty scheduled for this Friday at 9:30." He began, waiting for her response "Yes, I do realize that they will not approve our decision..." He continued, listening to the attendant. Chris was wandering through the room, staring at the walls, moving his eyes around until they dropped at a picture hanging next to his desk: It was photography of himself and Martin, as kids. He remembered that the picture was taken in their parents' backyard, next to a tree, when he was four years old and Martin was eight. He could recall many memories from that time, as well as many dreams. They were always fascinated by animals, always playing of being one. They used to say that they wanted to be Lions, Rhinos, Elephants or any other cool creatures when they grew up. They used to complain of not being able to be all of them at the same time. _"Those were good times"_ Chris Thought, smiling. Now, they were considered the most pathetic biologists in the university, whose jobs were on the line. This made Chris wonder _"How did this happen? Did we make a wrong turn somewhere?"_ None of their childhood dreams had become true, even though they were studying animals, they were never able to experience the wild properly. They always had to care about the university equipment or something, and it always ended up damaged. This thought took the smile off his face. That should mean something... maybe they weren't supposed to be there after all... maybe _that_ was the wrong turn. It could be a warning... that they should follow their dreams while they still can... _"Nah..."_ Chris thought, taking his eyes off the picture _"that's impossible, anyway..."_

"...Yes, but, please, can you at least try?" Martin was still on the phone, apparently having difficulties to cancel their meeting "Okay... alright, I understand, so call me if anything changes... okay? Thanks, anyway..."

"No luck, I take?" Chris asked, seeing Martin's concern face.

"The teaching staff doesn't let us cancel the meeting, saying that 'we have to learn to attend appointments, to be responsible and bla, bla, bla..." he said, making a stupid voice for the quotes "I asked one of the attendants to try to convince the faculty of canceling the meeting, but I don't think we'll be able to avoid it... she said she would call us if anything changes, but we'll have to consider the possibility of having to present our research results anyway..."

"Even without the material?!" Chris said with wide eyes.

"Even without the material..." Martin said, looking at Chris with a serious expression "I told them about our situation, but it just made everything worse... we'll have to find something to show them."

"But, what will we show them? We don't have anything to prove whatever we say in there!" Chris said, making a face of desperation.

"I don't know, but we'll have to find something. _Anything_. Let's look at the internet, some books, we find something they don't know, make a little speech, and... see if they believe us..." Martin said, looking to the sides of the room, as if searching for a miracle in the desks of the shelves.

"Yes, but to prove our 'speech'" Chris said, quoting the word speech with his fingers "What about it? What are we going to do?"

"_Um... We'll find a way through it..."_ Martin said, feeling the pressure of Chris' questions.

"Ah?! That's what you always say when you can't answer something!" Chris said, walking away from him _"We'll find a way through it!"_

"Oh, Come on! I don't have the answers for everything, do I?!" Martin said, getting up from his seat, trying to defend himself.

"Yes, but whenever you say that, it means that we'll get in trouble!" Chris said, walking back and forth around the office.

"Oh, please, don't over think this again!" Martin said, making a _"C'mon!"_ face.

"Martin, There is nothing we can do about the meeting; we'll have to find a way to cancel it!" Chris said, looking at him, deeply worried.

"_And what do you think I was doing!?"_ Martin said, raising his voice.

"Look, no offence, but you never actually find a way through things! We always end up in trouble, many times because you don't know how to take care of important stuff!" Chris said, raising his voice as well.

"Ha! What about you?! You are always overreacting over everything, you never open your mind to new or best possibilities; always consider the worst case scenario!" Martin said, raising an eyebrow to his brother.

"Yes, that's because it's a possibility! Both the best and the worst can happen if we don't think things through! We can't just do stuff without a plan!" Chris said, trying to be the right one in the discussion.

"Pfffffff, there you go again, talking about plans! You always need a plan, right?! To film lions, we need a plan, to arm a tent, we need a plan, to cross the street, we need a plan, right?!" Martin said, trying to make his brother's argument sound stupid.

"Oh, Come on! This is getting ridiculous!" Chris said, looking at Martin with a _"Really?!" _face.

"_Oooh, my name is Chris and I need a plan for every day of my life!"_ Martin said, walking around making a stupid voice.

"_Argh_, look at yourself, you're acting like a five-year old child!" Chris said, following him.

"And you're acting like a fifty-year-old cranky man!" Martin said, turning around to look at his brother's eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments, until Darlene opened the door and found the two brothers in the middle of the room, looking at each other with aggressive expressions.

"What's going on?" She asked them, suspiciously. They didn't answer anything, until Chris turned his back to Martin, saying:

"This isn't gonna work..." He said.

"No, it won't..." Martin said turning his back to Chris as well. They did nothing but walk to their desks, in different parts of the room.

"What's not going to work?" She asked again, and they didn't give her any response "So, you guys are not talking to me? Well, I'm fine with that!" She said, sitting in a little chair in the room.

So they remained like that for the rest of the day, each of them in a corner of the office, separated by a cold dense imaginary wall. Chris picking and placing books in the shelf, Martin in his little laptop, and Darlene reading a fashion magazine, even though she didn't care much about fancy clothes and stuff. Those hours seemed like an eternity, but they didn't leave their places. All they did was to give each other quick looks, many times angry looks. They were desperately trying to find something they could do in case the meeting was not canceled. Past 4 hours, there was a pile of books above Chris' desk, and he was still looking for anything about lions and their behavior under any attack. Martin had already given up finding things in the internet. Darlene, of course, was still reading magazines. Then, Chris got up, hitting both his hands on the desk and calling the attention of Martin and Darlene. He started walking in circles around the room, with one of the hands in his chin, clearly out of ideas. Then, he stopped, looking around things in the room again. He looked at Martin, Darlene, the pile of books above his desk and the pile of magazines Darlene read. After staring at them for a few seconds, one of them caught his attention, only for curiosity. It was the last magazine Darlene had picked to read, and it had a picture of a woman, awkwardly dressed, with a squared face, and a dark red hair, a little bit brighter than Darlene's, and the other physical details were too small to be noticed. There was a big headline above that woman's head, saying:

"Ms. Donata, Epic Hits to Epic... Fails?" Chris read, so both Martin and Darlene could hear.

"Sad, isn't it?" She said, not taking her eyes of the magazine she was currently reading.

"What's sad?" Chris asked her.

"This fashion designer, Donita Donata." She began "She used to be famous a few years ago, known for her characteristic animal skin coats and hats of feathers from rare birds..."

"_What?!"_ Chris shouted. That phrase caught the attention of both Martin and Chris. Martin quickly got up and got closer to Darlene, because it concerned not only the two of them, but animals in general.

"Yeah, I knew you wouldn't like it..." She continued "But, she began to run out of ideas, and lose her 'precious fame', specially because of organizations in defense of animals. Now, she's in the dark side of the fashion world."

"Huh! Great, animals should not be worn as clothes!" Martin said, turning around, heading back to his desk.

"Too bad, that's not all." Darlene said "In an interview she said she is planning to return to the runways, bringing some 'Wild Life' in her new designs."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Chris asked, worried.

"I don't know... looks like is a surprise..." She said, looking down.

"Well, we don't like this kind of surprise..." Chris said, going back to his desk as well. So, they all returned to their places, starting another non-talking spree. The silence remained until the end of their working hours, which was about 18:00. Darlene had already left when they decided to go home. They didn't bring much to work, apart from a few books and office material. Chris was heading to the door when Martin called him:

"Hey, Chris... I..." He began.

"I am still mad at you, don't forget that!" He said, without looking at him.

"Ah...Okay, maybe I overreacted a little bit on this..." Martin continued.

"Ha! I thought I was the one who overreacts on everything!" He said, leaving the office, followed by Martin.

"Oh, C'mon!" He said, trying to get Chris' attention as they went down the corridor "Look, Chris, I am thinking of something, but I need to tell you...!"

Chris was leaving the building, heading to his car, parked a few squares from the Biology department, with Martin on his heels. It was almost dark, and the street lights were already on. Chris was walking faster, trying to make Martin give up on telling him whatever he wanted to, unsuccessfully.

"Look, Chris, we can't tolerate this anymore! We have to stop it somehow!" Martin said, trying to catch up on Chris' steps.

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked, already losing his patience "You know we can't quit the job if we don't have other option!"

"_I am not talking about quitting!"_ Martin retorted, desperately trying to catch his brother's attention. Chris quickly turned around when he heard what he said, curious.

"What do mean, you're not talking about quitting?" He asked, slowly walking towards Martin.

"At least not _yet_!" He continued "Listen, we can't just sit down and wait for something to happen for us! If we want our dreams to become true, we have to stand up and make it! _We have to make our own opportunity!_"

"Ah, okay, and how do you suggest we '_make our own opportunity'_?" Chris asked, looking at Martins with a serious expression, because if Martin was talking about the dream of becoming an animal, he would think he was crazy.

"I... haven't thought that far yet..." Martin said, looking down, making his brother groan and head back to his car. And again, Martin went after him, not willing to lose his attention "But... I can think of something! There must something that takes us out of this struggle!"

"Martin, please, you're wasting your time with this!" Chris said, finally approaching his car. He got inside the vehicle and turned on the engine, while Martin reached the car and starting knocking at the glass, with a sad expression. Chris, running out of patience, rolled down the window for his brother, with a hopelessness face "What is it?" Chris asked again, even thought he no longer wanted to discuss that topic.

"Look, bro..." Martin said, trying to soften him by calling him _bro_ "I'm sorry if this sounds stupid, but... don't you want your dreams to become true? _Our_ dreams? If you do, we have to find a way to make it happen...!"

"But wasn't _THIS _our dream?!" Chris suddenly interrupted Martin "Wasn't working at the university our dream? You know, studying animals, visiting their natural habitats, being around them? Of course, the lion thing and the car crash were both unfortunate happenings, but... wasn't this what we always wanted to do?! If not, what is it? What dream are we actually seeking? Because if you're talking about _that_ dream, then I should remind you that it is impossible!" He said.

"Yes, but..." Martin tried to speak, but he was again interrupted by Chris.

"And, if this was our dream, then what's wrong?" Chris asked him, trying to finish his argument "What is it that we've done that screwed everything up? Was this what we actually wanted to do, or did we dream everything wrong?" He finished. At first, Martin didn't know what to say or how to face so many true arguments at the same time. He looked around and then back at Chris' hopeless face, saying:

"Maybe we didn't dream it wrong..." He began, lowering his voice "Maybe we just didn't see it through... maybe we thought that our dream would be here, when it actually isn't..."

"_**Then where is it?!"**_ Chris asked again, sounding desperate for a response.

"That's what I'll try to find out..." Martin said, nodding as he had no more hopes, which made Chris groan again and start rolling up his window again _"Wait!"_ Martin said, putting his arm in the middle of the glass before it could actually reach to top, crushing his elbow until Chris finally rolled it down again "Look Chris, I'm not making this for me, I'm trying to make this for us, but please, I need you to give me a chance, please!" He begged. At that point, Chris no longer knew what to say to him, because he had already made his point in the whole discussion, but Martin was still requiring his decision about it. There was a short moment of silence, where Martin was staring at him with a sad face, and Chris was staring at the glass, thinking.

"Alright..." He finally said "Just do your things... make your plan, and... do something that surprises me, if you want it so bad." Chris finished, making Martin smile "But please, be realistic in whatever you decide to do, _**AND**_" He paused briefly, as if to say something important "Please, don't do _anything _we will regret later... that's all I'm asking you."

Martin nodded positively, agreeing with his brother's conditions "Goodbye, Martin." Chris said, rolling up the window for the last time, and leaving the parking spot and slowly driving to the gates of the university, leaving Martin alone, in the dark, standing under that fuzzy street light.

_**=============================================(To be Continued)================================================**_

_**Author Notes: So what do you guys think of this chapter? Was it cool? Please R&R this chapter if you liked it.**_

_**PS: Guys, I'm doing High School now, apart from other activities, so from now on I won't have much free time to write, so please don't be scared if I disappear for a while, okay? Thank you for your support! You are being so cool to me!**_


	3. A Shot in One Million

_**Author Notes: I'm really sorry for the delay. As I said, I would probably disappear for a while, because I'm doing lots of exams in school, so, I SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE!**_

_**But I am, because a love you guys just as much as I love this story, so I'll try my best to keep up with it. I WILL NEVER FORGET ABOUT MY STORY UNTIL THE DAY I FINISH IT!**_

_**Enjoy :D**_

_**===========================================(A Shot in One Million)===============================================**_

Martin came home that night relieved. His brother gave him the chance he needed to create a plan that could take both of them out of their current jobs, and o actually follow their dreams. He opened his apartment door and fell on the couch with a big smile on his face "This time, we'll jump out of this, once for all!" He thought. He kept chuckling for at least 3 other minutes until something else came to his mind and took his smile away. "What am I going to do now?" He thought. He actually had no idea of his next move. He performed a whole drama scene in that parking lot just for his brother to give him permission for that, but there was _no idea_. He quickly got up, with one of the hands on his forehead, thinking "What can I do now? What am I going to show Chris?!" He started to panic, thinking that he wouldn't be able to show something in time. He then thought again to himself "Calm down... calm down, Martin... just focus in your goal and the idea will come..." He then started walking in circles around his apartment, trying to make something up, something _reasonable_. He walked for about 15 minutes, occasionally sitting down on the couch, just to stand up again and continue his walk. After that, he went to his little office room and picked up some books, browsing them until the end, trying to find an idea. Nothing. He then thought about watching TV, some wild life documentaries or something. Nothing as well. He then thought about picking up his laptop and searching for animal related results in the internet. Nothing. He was running out of hopes. Past almost 2 hours, he didn't find anything, so he completely lost his hopes. He was only going to check the news somewhere in the internet. He just scrolled down the page, around the main headlines, nothing really interesting. This was until he saw something like "ecological disaster" among the smaller headlines. He clicked it, and saw what it was all about: The 5 worst ecological disasters from our time. That was something that concerned him. His eyes widened while he read the list of ecological disasters... oil leaks in Nigeria... continuous coal fires in Mongolia... a big garbage island in the sea..._** (Note: This is all true. I'll be mentioning more of this throughout this chapter.)**_

"How come things like that keep happening and no one seems to care?" He thought to himself. The world was such a beautiful place to be destroyed like that. So, he quickly recalled what he had seen on TV in the day before... About that chef Gourmand... "Why do people let these things happen?!" He said, this time. He placed his laptop on the floor, leaned down in the couch and placed both hands on his face. There were people out there, destroying the nature, maybe at that very moment...and no seemed to care about it... people were always waiting for something to happen so they could actually do something about it... Mainly because there was no one out there to... to... Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. He quickly put his head up, with wide eyes. He then picked up the laptop and began reading everything again. Then, he looked for other news, and there were much news. Too much. He saw that there were lots of bad things happening in the wild around the world, and there wasn't anyone there to prevent this. _Anyone_. He found it...the Idea he was looking for. _"That's it!"_ He shouted, standing up and walking around the living room again, with a big smile on his face. He felt like he was about to burst in happiness because he had such a good idea, well, at least in his opinion. He then stopped walking, thinking "Okay... okay... got some work to do tonight!". Then, he picked up a poster board, connected his laptop to a small printer in his little office room and began typing. And he typed a lot. He drank at least 3 cups of coffee during the whole night, to stay awake. Then he started printing papers, lots of papers and pasted them on the board. He kept doing that until it was full of images and written papers. That poster board wasn't exactly necessary, but it would help to emphasize his idea.

_**==============================================(The Next Day)=================================================**_

It was almost 10:00, Chris and Darlene were already in the office, but Martin wasn't. Chris was worried because they had trouble with being late before, and he didn't want it to happen to Martin... or all of them. Darlene didn't seem to care much; she was doing the same thing of the previous day, reading magazines, deep in her world. Chris, otherwise, was on his desk, with both hands on his head, concerning about the real world. Five minutes of angst went by, and the office door finally opened. Martin came, carrying his bag and a poster board. Chris suddenly stood up and looked at him worried, while Darlene simply said "You are late."

"_I knooow!"_ He said, chuckling. Darlene noticed his mocking tone, saying:

"You know, you're quite happy for someone who's about to become _unemployed_." She emphasized the word "unemployed", raising an eyebrow to him. Martin only laughed as a response, clearly not giving it any importance.

"Where have you been? You can't just come here after you're one or two hours late!" Chris said, looking at his brother with a serious expression "What is it you're holding?" He asked, looking at the poster board that Martin was holding in his left hand.

"That..." He began, putting his bag on his desk "...is our way out of this struggle"

"Uh-oh, here we go again..." Chris said, looking to the ceiling and then to the floor again.

"What is it? What is he talking about?" Darlene asked suspiciously, now looking at Martin with a serious look.

"Looks like we're about to find out..." Chris said, worried.

Martin, then, placed in on the desk and opened it. Both Chris and Darlene could see that it was full of writings and images, which they couldn't read, until Martin called them "Hey, check this out!" So, they two walked toward the desk, standing on each side. Once they had a closer look, they could see many news headlines, related to ecological disasters and crimes against the nature, apart from images of dead or hurt creatures. Chris then looked closer to the headlines, asking:

"What is it, Martin?"

"You asked me for a plan that we could use to get out of here. Well, here it is!" Martin said, with a big smile in his face.

"Get out of here?!" Darlene said, alarmed "Okay, what is it that you're up to now?"

"Read... just read and you'll find out!" Martin said, pointing at the board with an excitement face.

"Martin, C'mon, what are you up to? Chris asked, concerned. He didn't want it to be anything crazy.

"Will you just read it?" Martin said, impatient. Chris then turned around and, along with Darlene, got closer to the board, looking at the headlines, while Martin stood back, watching them as they read the many headlines. A few moments later, Chris started:

"Animal trafficking generates about US$ 19 billion a year, according to NGO" He began reading, exchanging a confused look with Darlene.

"What is this all about?" Darlene asked, looking back at Martin, confused.

"_Shhh_! Just let him finish!" Martin told her, making a silence gesture. Chris stared at him for a second, and then continued:

"**12/12/2012.** A report released on Wednesday (12) by the NGO WWF (World Wildlife Fund) points out that the illegal trade of wildlife represents about US$19 billion a year, money that strengthens criminal networks, compromises the security of countries and threatens the health of the population. Furthermore, according to the NGO, the practice accelerates the extinction of species" He finished, with wide eyes. Both Darlene and Him, looking at Martin, confused.

"Read the other ones now!" Martin said, pointing at the poster board. They didn't understand what was the point of all that. So, Darlene read the next headline:

"**19/06/2010 Meet the five worst ecological disasters of our time"** She began "**Pacific Ocean:** Located between California and Hawaii, is the largest landfill in the world - a great combination of plastic and debris that have one and a half times the size of the U.S. and is 30 m deep. Discovered in 1997, the "stain" is a product of the North Pacific current that picks up trash from the U.S. West Coast and East Asia. Inside the spot, the plastic pieces outweigh plankton by weight on a scale of 6 to 1 and their chemical residues affect fish consumed by humans. According to the UN Environment Program, there are 46,000 pieces of plastic every 1.6 square kilometers (one mile) in the oceans and that would be the cause of death of more than a million birds and 100,000 mammals annually..." She finished, exchanging now a concerned face with Chris that went on reading:

"**Aral sea:** Located on the border of Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea was once the fourth largest deposit of continental water in the world, home to over 20 species of fish. But in the early '60s, the Soviet government began to build more than 45 dams and 32,000 km of canals in an effort to create a cotton industry in the desert plains of Uzbekistan, which eliminated important sources of the Aral Sea. In the next three decades, the river dropped to two-fifths of its original size. The region's water reserves are dangerously low and the soil contains pesticides from cotton farms. Annually, when strong winds hit the seabed, which is dry, spreads up to 75 million tons of dust and salt through Central Asia. However, thanks to dams built on the Kazakh side in the last decade have led to a partial recovery of the sea" He finished, making a gesture for Darlene to read another headline.

"Okay... hum..." She said, looking around the many other news headlines **"10/01/2011 African subspecies of rhinoceros is considered extinct"** She began "An update of the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has made official the extinction of Western black rhinos (Diceros bicornis longipes). This black rhino subspecies was only found in Cameroon. However, when it was made a major search for this animal in the wild, no specimens were found, and since then they were never seen again. His cousin, the northern white rhino (Ceratotherium cottoni simum) is also seriously at risk, and appears in the category "possibly extinct in the wild." The Javanese rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) follows the same path." She finished. Both Chris and he turned around to look at Martin, who was just standing back waiting for them to read the articles. They stared at him quiet, until he finally said:

"So?"

"So what?" Darlene asked "What's the point of this?"

"Well, you must be wondering why I am showing you this..." He began.

"Oh really, How did you find out?" Darlene said, sarcastically.

"...Well, I should let _you_ find out!" He said, raising his eyebrows "Any Ideas?"

"Martin, please!" Chris groaned "Just tell us once for all what are planning now!"

"_AAAH stop being such a killjoy!" _Martin said gritting his teeth. He was clearly losing his patience because of Chris "So, Darlene, any guesses? What are your conclusions?" He asked pointing at her, changing from an angry to an excitement expression.

"Hum... That... you are trying to show us how ungrateful human beings are towards the environment?" She said the first thing that came up in her mind.

"No. Chris?" Martin asked, pointing at him. Chris just looked up to the ceiling and groaned when he asked him to take part on the whole thing "Oh c'mon, just give it a try!" He insisted.

"I don't know..." Chris began, uninterested "...because there isn't anyone to prevent these things from happening?"

"_Exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxactly!"_ Martin said, picking up a little whiteboard that was hidden behind his desk and placing it in the wall, along with some markers.

"What?" Chris asked again, more confused than he already was.

"You see, there are people destroying the nature all the time" Martin began "But for some reason people only care about it when it already happened. Why? Because there isn't anyone out there to stop those people!" He paused.

"Okay, so there are people destroying the nature and no one cares about them. What else?" Darlene asked again, bored.

"So, you must be asking yourselves..."

"We're not, but, go on." She interrupted him.

"_What. Ever!"_ He said, giving her and angry look "So... You must be asking yourselves: why isn't there anyone out there to protect not only the animals, but the environment as well?" he asked, writing the question on the whiteboard with a black marker.

"What do you mean _'Why isn't there anyone'_?" Chris interrupted "Of course there are people out there trying to protect the environment...""

"Then how do you explain _why_ these things still happen?" Martin asked, raising his voice and taking a step closer to Chris.

"Because these people cannot be in so many places at the same time!" Chris raised his voice as well.

"BINGO! He saved the day!" Martin said, again writing something in the whiteboard, this time with a red marker "_people... can't... be... in... many... places... at the same... time!"_

"Okay... I still don't get it" Darlene said, just as confused as Chris was.

"Look, there are lots of environmental crimes going on out there at this moment, and there aren't enough people to prevent them!" Martin said, changing from excited to serious "These things might be happening right under our noses, and we wouldn't even suspect!"

"Martin, you're over thinking this!" Chris said

"Ok, am I? The day before yesterday, I saw a news story about a TV chef that secretly trafficked rare animals into his residence to use them as food! FOOD! Later, the authorities found out the illegal scheme, but that chef Gourmand was already gone!"

"Chef... who?" Chris asked.

"Ah, He's just an annoying fat guy with a big nose who used to run a TV cooking show." Darlene quickly explained.

"Still the same." Chris said again, still confused.

"That doesn't matter! What matters is that the current efforts to protect the wild are not enough!" Martin said.

"Okay, so what are thinking? Create some sort of fund for those environmental institutions or something?" Chris asked, no longer interested on the topic.

"No! That wouldn't work! There are lots of people already trying that, and it is apparently not working!" He said "There are too many ideas out there already. What the world need now is _action_!"

"Okay..." Chris said, nodding "And your point is...?"

"My point is that _WE_" Martin began to write on the whiteboard again, emphasizing the word "we" _"Are... going... to... prevent... those... crimes... ourselves!"_ He finished with a big smile. There was an awkward silence moment in the room, while Chris and Darlene stared at the board with wide eyes. Past a few seconds, the silence was broken when both Chris and Darlene burst into laughter, making Martin's smile slowly disappear. "I'm sorry, what part of the plan did you guys actually found funny?"

"The whole thing!" Darlene said, laughing as louder as possible, along with Chris.

"I still don't get it." Martin said.

"Mar...tin..." Chris said, trying to control himself "Wh... Where did you get this Idea from?"

"Well, I did some research around the internet and I found the news that you just saw!" Martin said.

"And this is your plan?" Chris said, mocking "Us being some sort of environmental police?"

"If you think of it that way..." Martin said, causing Chris and Darlene another laugh attack.

"Martin... This is crazy!" Chris said, wiping the tears from his eyes, trying to stop laughing.

"Well, you asked for a plan, and here it is!" Martin said.

"Martin, this isn't a plan, this would be like... a shot in one million!" Chris began "I asked for a _realistic_ plan! _This_ is far from realistic."

"Oh, I'm sorry! do you have a better Idea?" Martin challenged his brother.

"This isn't about whose Idea is the best, but whether it's practicable or not!" Chris said.

"Look, bro, even if it's not practicable, I'm pretty sure that you are just as desperate to leave this place as I am! We have to try it!" Martin retorted

"We can't, we are already up to our necks in trouble! We could lose everything doing this!" Chris replied.

"Oh, gimme a break! It can't be that bad!" Martin replied, in a mockery tone.

"_Yes, yes it can!"_ Chris raised his voice and widened his eyes "Not just for us but for the rest of our team...!"

"And me, don't forget about me" Darlene interrupted raising her hand, yet no longer paying attention to their conversation.

"...Yeah, and _her_!" He finished.

"Oh, c'mon, bro, give me at least one chance! I always let you do things your way, and now I want to try to make it my own way at least once! Please!" Martin begged, this time.

"But... aren't there already people who are raising doing this kind of stuff to help the environment?" Chris asked, trying to bring Martin to the common sense.

"Yes, but it is clearly not enough!" Martin retorted "There are so many creatures out there that are endangered because of the action of poachers and other bad people who are destroying their native habitat!"

"Ah okay, okay... Let's suppose we try your plan... How exactly should we start?" Chris asked, hoping that his brother hadn't thought any further.

"Well, firstly, we can't do it alone!" Martin began "If we want this to work, we will need help." He again picked up the markers and began writing in the board again.

"What kind of help?" Chris slowly asked, surprised. He wasn't expecting Martin to come with that. Martin wrote something on the board that they at first couldn't see because he was in front of it. He soon, finished, standing beside the board.

"People" He answered "As many as we can get. If there is something that I am completely sure about, is that we will never make on our own. That's the key to our success. We have to spread our idea around, try to find people who are interested, who have specific abilities..."

"...Such as?" Darlene interrupted him, a bit worried about the whole thing, because, again, if anything goes wrong, she would be penalized... Again"

"I don't know... maybe people with knowledge in biology, chemistry and medicine, communications, engineering, geography, computer software design... any kind of practical or intellectual help will be welcome." He said, as he wrote all those words on the board.

"And how exactly are you going to convince other people to help you and _your_ plan?" Darlene asked, just to make sure that they wouldn't suggest _her_ as an option.

"Well, I would probably use conventional reason first" He began "And if that don't work... We'll figure something out."

"Oh... I don't like the sound of that!" Chris said, worried.

"Okay, look, it may sound a bit crazy, but if we do things right, it can actually work!" Martin again tried to defend his plan.

"Ow, Martin..." Chris groaned. He no longer knew what to say, his mind was already overloaded with the latest happenings, and now Martin comes with the craziest idea he could possibly think of "Please... don't make things so hard..."

"I'm not making anything hard, it is you the one who's too mistaken to take a simple decision. Come on dude, do this for me! At least once!" Martin begged. There was a moment of silence in the room, like if Chris was about to make the choice that would change forever the course of humanity. The silence lasted at least 30 seconds before Chris finally looked into his brother eyes and said.

"Alright. Okay, I'm in" He finally decided, making Martin open a big smile almost instantly "But if I realize that you are going way too far with this, I'll just cut it out, ok?" Chris imposed, but Martin didn't seem to hear. He was way too excited that things were working until that point, walking around the room, with a big smile and sparkling eyes.

"Ah, okay then..." Darlene said, in a disappointed tone, like if she was expecting Chris to say no.

"Wahoo! Now we're talking, dude!" Martin shouted, apparently forgotten that people in the offices from above and below them would probably hear him.

"Yeah, now the thing is..." Chris said, in a worried tone, making Martin stop jumping around, like if he was about to hear something that would destroy his joy "What should we do first?" He asked

"Well, as I said, we'll need to find people..." Martin began, being interrupted by Chris.

"Yes, but, what people, Martin?" Chris asked "Who is it that you're referring to? Do you actually know anyone with the qualities you mentioned?" He finished.

"No... One comes to mind right now..." Martin said, as his smile slowly disappeared from his face. He felt a bit angry with his brother in that moment. No matter what Martin did, Chris was always able to find flaws in his ideas. That was too frustrating for him.

"Ha! It was just too good to be true..." Darlene said, in a tone of disregard.

"I knew it..." Chris said, turning his back to Martin, with his hand of his forehead.

"No, I mean... ah... There must be someone we know that fits in some of these requirements..." He stammered, desperately trying to save his plan from disposal.

"But who, Martin? _**Who**_?" Chris was now raising his voice. All that madness was coming to his mind at once, driving him crazy... A crazy plan... A crazy plan that could actually work. Chris was feeling a little bit of headache already, and could possibly burst into lots curse words if anything rational came into his mind at that moment.

"Well..." Martin began, feeling a bit afraid of his brother at that moment "Let's think... it has to be someone intelligent, insightful, creative, and, of course, someone who knows how to put their hands-on!" He finished. Both brothers stood still, trying to think on someone who could help them and their... plan... Darlene was standing right behind the two, staring at them with a strangeness face. She then sighed and looked to the ceiling, as if she was about to do something she didn't want to.

"I am going to regret this..." She said quietly _"I know someone who can help you guys..."_ She said, looking at the lamp that was above them. Both Chris and Martin turned their attention to her almost immediately. They were not expecting her to cooperate with them... at all. They slowly walked towards her, as Martin asked.

"What do you mean, you actually know someone?" He said, thinking that she could be just joking.

"Look, I have this friend... and... she is a space engineer, she works for NASA and she absolutely _loves_ building new stuff that comes in her mind. I believe she could help you in one way or another..." Darlene finished, already regretting mentioning that.

"And... Why should we believe you?" Chris asked, feeling a little bit unsure if he should or not take her seriously. If they remember her for something it is for playing jokes on them. Not those jokes that are meant to be funny, but those that are meant to be mean and humiliating.

"Do you have any other option, Mr. Smarty-pants?" She said, casting him a look of disdain. And she was right. They will probably be stuck forever in ground zero if they didn't accept her help.

"Ah... do you think she can actually help us?" Martin asked, trying to make her ignore his brother's question.

"Well, first, we'll need to make her come here." Darlene said "She lives in Rochester, New York, so... getting her here will be a little bit hard and... OH, CAN YOU STOP THIS?!" she yelled because they were getting way too close to her.

"Ah... well, we have to try, then!" Martin said, stepping back.

"Could you call her or something?" Chris said, with a little bit of hope in his voice. Darlene sighed and picked up the phone, saying:

"I shouldn't be doing this, but anyway..." She said as she dialed a strange number, then putting it in live voice mode, so they would listen. Martin immediately began anxious, like if he was about to won the lottery. Everyone went silent; Chris and Martin were standing both beside Darlene, waiting for whoever she mentioned to answer the phone. Past a few seconds, they could finally hear someone in the end of the phone.

"_**Hello?"**_ he girl said.

"Hey girl, it's me, Darlene!" She happily responded, giving the impression that they were really best friends.

"_**Oh, hi sweetie! I was actually thinking about calling you but I've been so busy this week!"**_ The girl said.

"Oh me too, things are quite crazy at work right now, you know?" Darlene said, Giving both Martin and Chris a look of contempt.

"_**What do you mean, like, crazy?"**_ The girl asked.

"Ah, nothing that really matters now. Look, ahn..." She began, so both Chris and Martin knew she was going to the reason of the call "I have some... friends... that would really like your help in some things they're doing..."

"_**Ah, really? What sort of things?"**_ The Girl asked again.

"Ah... Well..." Darlene hesitated. She didn't want to tell her friend about the Kratt's crazy plan, so she had to make something up "Well... I didn't actually understand when they told me about it... it had something to do with building _stuff and engineering... so I thought you could help! Any chance you're coming to New Jersey?"_

"_**Oh... well, you're in luck. NASA will be hosting a convention in Trenton next week to discuss the usage of biofuels in future spacecrafts and perhaps the international space station itself. It'll last five days. Though I'll participate only in the second day, I can stay there until the end of the week."**_ Martin had an excitement expression when she said that. Things were finally starting to work out for him.

"Oh really? That's so... cool; they will love to see you!" Darlene said, trying to sound happy, but she looked like she was terrified about something. She probably was praying for her friend not to come any time soon, so she wouldn't meet... them...

"_**Nice... So... When and where could I meet your friends?"**_ The Girl asked.

"Ah... well... ahn..." Darlene stammered a bit. She then made a gesture for the Kratts to give tell her where and when to meet the girl. They quickly looked around the room, to find something they could write on. Chris picked up a newspaper and one of Martin's markers, and wrote something in it "Ah... well... Hold on a second!"

"_**Darlene...? Hello?"**_ The girl asked, sounding confused. Chris then held up the newspaper he was writing on so Darlene could see it.

"It could be... on Monday! Yeah, Monday, in... Ah..." She made the same gesture again. Martin picked up another marker and the newspaper from Chris's hands. He then wrote something else in the paper, and held it up again for Darlene "In... The Airport! Yes... the... Trenton Mercer Airport, you know? You keep some of your inventions in there, right? You could already show them some!" Darlene finally finished the sentence.

"_**Yeah... I suppose... anyway, it was nice to hear voice again. See you on Monday, okay?" **_The Girl responded, for both the Kratts' and Darlene's relief.

"Yeah okay..." Darlene said, breathlessly as if she had just run a marathon.

"_**Okay then. Bye!"**_ The girl happily took leave.

"Yeah... bye-bye!" Darlene hung up, and both she and Chris took a deep breath while Martin started a little celebration in his head, jumping around like a little kid "Okay, NOW you guys owe me two! How did you know about the airport?" She asked, intrigued.

"Ah... That's just the first thing that came to my mind!" He said, bursting with joy. Darlene then walked out of the office, while he quickly made Chris a "Hi-5" gesture, but his brother was totally not feeling like it. His concern expression made Martin's smile slowly disappear, along with his "Hi-5!"

"Oh, come on, dude! Cheer up a little bit!" Martin said "You are always concerning about everything, this isn't good for you, you know?"

"Yeah... I just..." Chris began with a sad voice, being immediately interrupted by Martin.

"You just nothing! Things are already working for us and I'm not gonna let you in this bad mood while things work out!" Martin said with an authoritative voice "You lift your mood and try to enjoy the good things that happen from now on, because all of this concern will just consume you from the inside, bit by bit, and you know I'm right!" he finished. Chris then raised his head and look at Martin, with as smile.

"You know, you sounded like dad now... he would have said the same to me" he chuckled "You must be right... I just need to forget things for a while."

"Yeah... C'mon, I'll buy you a drink in the cafeteria." Martin said, walking towards the door along with Chris.

_**===========================================(Later on that day)=================================================**_

Both Chris and Martin were heading to the parking lot, chatting down the hall. They were both laughing, telling jokes to each other, until Martin suddenly stopped walking and his smile disappeared. He then stared forward with an angry look. Chris stopped when he noticed that he had stopped too, and looked at his angry face. He then looked in the opposite direction to see what Martin was staring at, and then he finally understood. Dean Grayson was also heading to the parking lot when he noticed their presence. Chris now was feeling almost the same way as Martin There was a tension moment in the corridor, while the Dean and Martin started exchanging angry looks. Dean Grayson kept walking though, until he reached the brothers, stared at Martins eyes and said "I'll see you in the meeting tomorrow. Be prepared" with a scratchy voice. Martin felt like punching that old man's face. He never hated on someone that much before. Dean Grayson, then, walked back to the door and left the place, giving them one more angry look. A few seconds after that Martin sat on the floor without changing his expression, and so did Chris. They both stayed there with their bags beside them, looking down... until Martin finally said:

"Did you see that?" He asked Chris "Did you see the way he looked at me?"

"Yeah... I did" Chris sighed.

"Why's that? Why does he specially hates me? What is it that I've done that he hated so much...?" Martin asked indignantly.

"Ah... I... don't know!" Chris lied. He could actually list a few things that Martin has done throughout the year that would probably make anyone hate him.

'I can't believe it... didn't they cancel that meeting?" Martin asked, looking at Chris.

"I'm afraid they didn't..." Chris said.

"That doesn't make sense, I mean... Don't they know what happened to us in Africa...?" Martin asked, confused.

"Yes, they do! They know about everything! The whole university must know about that by now..." Chris raised his voice.

"_Then why do they insist on that damn meeting?"_ Martin yelled this time. He couldn't understand anything that was going on.

"Humiliation. That's why they insist on it. They want to humiliate us!" Chris yelled as well "We are currently the most pathetic biologists of this campus, students laugh at us every time we cross them! The teaching staff no longer cares about whatever we show them, they just want us to go there and show them how stupid and incompetent we are! That's why they insist on it!" He finished. Martin went silent. That was too much for him. He couldn't believe how much the teaching staff hated them. That was really mean, and depressing. They both stood there for a few moments, until Martin got up and said:

"We can't let them do this" He began "We can't give them the satisfaction! We have to show them that we are not that stupid and incompetent! We do have potential... besides... If I'm going to leave this damned university one day, I don't want to leave with this reputation..."

"Then... What are we going to do?" Chris asked, worried again "How are we gonna prove that they are wrong?"

"Ah..." Martin hesitated, trying to think on something "...You don't worry about that now. Leave it to me. I'll think of something."

"Ow... Martin, please don't do this...!" Chris groaned with a desperation expression.

"Don't. You. Worry about that again!" Martin gave him an authoritative look "You had already too much of this today. Let's just go home, so you'll rest while a think of something."

"Martin...!" Chris tried to say something.

"Now, Chris!" Martin said, pointing at the door.

Chris picked up his bag and walked towards the door along with Martin, and then both headed to their cars "Okay... now he really did sound like dad..." Chris thought to himself as he turned the engine on and left the parking lot. He did not like it at all. He had a bad feeling about everything. Like if something bad was going to happen if he followed Martin's plan "No, Chris, don't think about it... It won't help" He thought to himself while driving out of the campus. Martin was also feeling weird about the recent events. He felt like something was waiting for them. Something bad. And that, if he and Chris were not careful enough, they could get in real trouble. The last thing he wanted, though, was his brother to feel just as insecure as he was. So, he always tried to look confident in front of him. Both of them unaware of what they would have to face in the near future.

_**==========================================(To be Continued)===================================================**_

_**Author Notes: Okay, guys... now let's be serious... when I said I would probably disappear for a while, neither had I known it would be for so long. School is getting in the way of everything now... But don't you worry, I will not forget about my story or you. I want to finish it. I have to. I made a promise to myself. If I ever wrote a story on FanFiction, It would have to be good, and I wouldn't stop until the end. It also would have to be long. I want to make at least 20 chapters for this story. No one did for WK that before, I think. So... Please, wish me luck in the next chapters! :)**_

_**Also, I want you guys to know that, in certain point of the story, things will get pretty violent. When I rated this story "T", I had no idea why I did that, but now I do. Only now I know. There will be blood. There will be drama. There will be explosions. They will have to do things they never thought they were able to do before. They will get hurt. They will be forced to do things they don't want to in order to become not only adventurous and fearless, but also SURVIVORS.**_

_**Oh, and, if you guys have any suggestions about things you would like to see in my story, or maybe just a joke you would like one of them to make, go to my DeviantArt page (link is on my FF profile) and post them there. This story is not only mine, it's ours. Without you guys, I wouldn't even be writing this. I want to make an epic origin story that makes everyone burst into tears of joy in the end. Who knows? Your Ideas can actually make the story even better!**_

_**So, I want to thank you guys for your support. I am not alone here. We are all part of this writing process, so let's make a story worthy of the name! And as always, Thanks for reading, and feel free to rate and Review. :)**_


	4. Let Me Introduce Myself

_**Author Notes: FINALLY! Hello everyone, its Carlosedu1 here again (After 2 months and 12 days of inactivity... XP) bringing you another TTCR chapter! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! XD Make sure to read this chapter until the end, because there's a little surprise for you all! I'm sure you will like it!**_

_**Enjoy.**_

_**==========================================(Let me Introduce Myself...)============================================**_

_**Chris Kratt's Journal, Entry 1:**_ _God, I need help. Since we got back from our African research, things went crazy. Martin must have lost a screw or two in that car crash. It can only be! I don't know how the heck he thought about that "plan", and... I pretty much don't care about it. He did have a point, though. The environment security is, in fact, inefficient in many places on Earth. Not because the security isn't good, but because the forests are way too big and there aren't enough people to watch over everything. If there was, like, a group of people who could handle this trouble... Protect the environment and the creatures... Argh, Damn it, Chris! You sound like him... Even though what he said was true, I'm more than convinced that his plan won't work the way he expects it to. What really scares me is how confident he is about this whole situation... That is not possible... There is no way someone can be that confident... He must be bluffing. He has to be. I mean, seriously! "Environmental police"? It's that his plan? No matter what he calls it, it still sounds like a child's fantasy... If any child would actually think of this. Goodness, what is happening? In my opinion, if we hadn't gone to Africa at first, none of this would have happened. We would still be in an... "Acceptable" situation and Martin wouldn't come with such crazy idea. Oh God, what am I going to do? I'm worried about Martin. He is deluded with this whole idea of finally leaving that university, but... he doesn't see the risks! I mean, how would we travel around the world to "rescue the nature"? How would we convince people that it is something that could actually work? Oh... that poor girl... Whenever she comes, Martin will probably throw all this information on her at once, and... She will probably run away from us and Darlene... Damn, how did I let this happen? How did I let this happen to us, Darlene, and the rest of our crew? How can we be so unlucky? And if that wasn't concerning enough... I'm afraid. I'm afraid of how this will end... But not in a normal way. I feel like I'm frightened of something else. Something that I don't know what it is. It's horrible. I can't eat, I can't sleep properly... I only slept four hours last night, and when I slept, I started having horrible nightmares. I dreamt animals were being murdered in cold blood, right in front of me. From Lions and Elephants to Walruses and Polar Bears. It was horrible... There were those... men, dressed like zoo keepers or something... They were shooting them... and laughing, celebrating. I couldn't move or make a sound. I could only see that horrible scene happen right in front of my eyes. I felt powerless, weak... like if I was the responsible for that disaster. I don't know what's happening to me... maybe I should see a doctor or something... maybe my mind is just too overloaded with stuff. Martin is right. I should try to chill out a bit; these thoughts are clearly not good for me. I Just... don't know what to do... Everything seems so complicated..._

_**Martin Kratt's Journal, Entry 1:**__ Okay, things finally are starting to work out for us. I know my plan is not the smartest thing in the world, but we could do a lot by following it. I'm sure of it. I just wish Chris could understand it, give me a chance and chill out a bit. He is always worrying about stuff, and that's the main reason why MY plans always fail: because he is afraid of them. He is just too scared of acting by instinct, of improvising. He has to realize that we can't plan everything in this life... sometimes the unexpected will happen and we'll have to make our way through. I know it can be dangerous, but..., come on! The world will never change if we just sit here and wait for a miracle to happen. Someone has to protect the wild before the man's actions destroy it. Someone has to make a difference before it's too late. If there's one thing about him that always bothers me is the fact that his mind is constantly attached to our reality... It's amazing how he refuses to change his mind to new possibilities; our routine simply makes him unable to do so. Oh, man, this will become a problem to me later... I feel like everything and everyone is going up against me and Chris, and that they are trying to pull us down... getting in the way of our dreams... Oh well, I guess there's nothing we can do about that now, I should focus on that meeting tomorrow... I told Chris I would find something to show them, but I have no idea of what to do... Gosh, those people are crazy. What do they expect us to show them? I just can't believe that they are actually doing this to humiliate us, I mean... Can they even do this? What about Dean Grayson, does he now about that? Ugh, I hate that university so much. The only reason why we decided to work in there was because we thought we were going to achieve something... Discover something important and... Have a good time in the wild... and it turned out that none of these things happened. Any of them. Everything we actually accomplished was to get in trouble again and again, apart from that "beautiful" debt with the university. That's why I insist on this plan. It may sound a bit unrealistic, but, right now, that's all we got. I also have to think of what I'm going to tell Darlene's friend when she comes... I need to tell her my plan in a way that she doesn't end up laughing, just like Chris and Darlene. Argh, I have to do everything in here... I wish Chris could help me; he knows better how to convince people... he knows how to do many things better than me. Even though he "agreed" to help me with my plan, I... feel much lonelier than before, and I don't think I'll be able to do this on my own. If I don't convince that girl, my plans will be ruined. Chris doesn't know it, or at least I hope so, but I'm just as worried as he is about this whole thing... and I don't know why, I mean... it feels different to me. I have butterflies in my stomach. I never felt this way before, I never felt so... anxious... like if something bad was about to happen. What could this be? Is it something related to my plan or what? Is this really the right thing to do...? Ugh, damn it... here I am again, tripping around my thoughts. I really shouldn't be worried about it; this will be good for us. We will leave that university and do something good for ourselves and the wild instead... what could possibly go wrong?_

_**====================================(The next day, somewhere in the US...)===========================================**_

It was a sunny day in a wealthy neighborhood. The birds woke up singing their beautiful morning melody, flying around the trees and the roof tops. All streets were clean, emphasizing the beautiful expensive mansions in both sides. Everything was full of colors, the bright orange sky, the multicolored flowers and bushes in the front yards of the residences, apart from the residence's themselves, mostly painted in bright colors such as yellow, white, pink, red, and various wood and stone details on the walls. As the sun rose, you could see it's light reflecting in the big windows and expensive cars, creating a natural light show in the calm scenario. Everything seemed to be quiet and peaceful that morning... except in one residence. All of a sudden, a horrible noise echoed through that quiet neighborhood. A black jet flew over the place at an extremely low height and high speed, then stopping above a mansion's roof top. This one mansion was in many ways different from the others. It was mostly gray and black with big dark windows that absorbed most of the sunlight, and a flat dark roof. The front yard was basically made out of an extremely mown lawn, which looked more like yellow than green. There were no bushes, flowers, anything, only a stone path that led to the dark metal front door. The jet stopped in mid air, right above that residence, landing on the backyard, which was basically a large cement platform, with a big red circle painted in the middle, where the aircraft should land. Once the wind turbines were off, the jet's side door opened automatically, touching the ground and revealing the steps that were the inside part of the door. Two men in black came out of that jet, along with a fat man, dressed in what seemed to be a chef's uniform, and a thin woman, wearing some purple large pants and a colorful top, along with a pink and thin scarf around her neck, both with bags covering their heads and the hands tied on their backs. The two men in black grabbed their arms and pulled them in the direction of the backdoor of the mansion, which was much bigger than the front door. It was a large steel gate, like the ones used in industries for the passage of trucks and other big vehicles. As soon as they approached the gate, it was immediately lifted by other men inside the place, revealing some sort of mechanical workshop, which was attached to the house. Some other men dressed in some dirty overalls ran outside to push the jet inside the workshop, while the others went through a dark metal door that led into darker corridors, with dark wood paneling in the walls, black wooden doors and an extremely polished stone floor that basically reflected the walls and the dark ceiling. The two hostages began to moan as the men in black pulled them by the arms to an unknown location in the house. They turned the corner a few times before reaching a larger corridor, with a black and white carpet in the middle. They walked towards this one corridor until reaching it's end, where there was a bright metal door with a dark metal detail in a "V" shape, and two marble pots with earth in both sides of the door, but with no plants. The two men opened the door and violently pushed the hostages inside the next room, making them fall on their knees, moaning something. That large room was basically lighten up by a big flat two story window that, just like the other ones in the house, only absorbed sunlight to the house, without reflecting it. There was the same dark wood paneling from the corridors in that room, except there were also some red curtains close to the window and in some other parts of the walls, apart from many different paintings of different sizes, moldings, colors and styles, having only one thing in common: they all pictured what seemed to be the same man. The men in black kept pushing the hostages towards one person: a man, dressed in a long black coat, staring at the window. They kept pushing those poor people until the man ordered with a cold, scratchy voice:

"Stop!" The two men immediately stopped pushing the hostages, making them kneel down close to the man as they began to yell something under the bags that covered their heads "Let them see the light again..." The man ordered again with the same voice tone. The two men in black immediately untied the bags and pushed them out of the hostages' heads, revealing their identities. The woman had a mostly squared face, dark red hair, and a short, strange but modern haircut and some very thin eyebrows. She was still wearing tons of makeup; her mouth was covered with a shiny red lipstick, apart from the dark-purple eye shadows that, somehow, enhanced her light brown eyes and the blush in her cheeks that failed to hide her freckles. The man had a large fat face and a big nose that was slightly red compared to his skin; He was still, somehow, wearing a chef hat, distorted by the bag that had covered his head earlier. He had green eyes and a lack of hair, based on what you could see in the both sides of his head. He had an English styled moustache, which seemed to have not received proper care recently, as you could tell by the other few wisps of beard throughout his face. Those two turned out to be Ms. Donita Donata and Mr. Gourmand, respectively. As soon as they had their heads free they opened their eyes and took a deep breath, as they couldn't see or breathe properly inside those cloth bags. After that, they began to squirm and moan, unaware of what had just happened to them. They desperately tried to untie their hands, unsuccessfully, and then they began to look around the room to find out where on earth they were, screaming:

"_Where am I? What is going on?!"_ Mr. Gourmand yelled, hearing his voice echoing around the room "Whoever you are, you can't arrest me, I'm innocent!" He tried to defend himself, thinking that he had been caught by police.

"_Urgh, you cannot do this! You have no right to keep me here...! __**ARGH!**__"_ Donita groaned when one of the two men in black held her down, stopping her from running away, and so did the other man to Gourmand _"Ahh, be careful with my... haircut! __**SOMEONE WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS!**__" _She shouted, trying to keep the man's arm away from her head, unsuccessfully. The men pulled their heads up, making them able to see the rest of the room. As they rolled their eyes around, they could see the many pictures hanging in the walls of the room. Most of them where painted in black and white, but in the colored ones, you would notice the strange face of one man. A face that was in ALL the other paintings. In different positions, in different colors, different shapes, but it was always the same. An extremely pale face with a small chin, making it look almost like a triangle, with a shiny black combed hair and light green eyes, which seemed to be always staring at the centre of the room, right where they were, like if those eyes were staring directly at them. The two finally turned their attention to the man who had his back to them, looking through the big window. He remained quiet for a few moments, while Donita and Gourmand were still struggling to escape, until he finally said.

"Well, first of all, welcome to my humble abode..." The man started, without looking at the two "You are certainly not easy to find, you know? I had a hard time tracking you two down..." He was interrupted by Gourmand, who began to scream:

"_What is going on?! Get-me-out of this madhouse!"_ He shouted, desperately trying to break free from the ropes that bound his hands on his back and the man who was holding him by the collar.

"Don't waste your energies, my friends..." The man started once again, in a darker voice tone "...You are not going anywhere unless I allow you to do so..."

"_I... am not your... friend!"_ Gourmand yelled once again, still trying to free himself.

"Whoever you are, you cannot do this to me! This is kidnapping! I'm gonna call the police! You hear me?!_ I'm calling the police!_" Donita tried to threaten the man, but he only chuckled and said:

"Do you really think the police can _actually_ do something for you, Ms. Donata?" The man asked, in a disdain tone.

"What... what do you mean by that?_ Who are you? Why are you doing this?!_" Donita asked, her voice slightly cracking. As much as she tried not to sound scared, she just couldn't help it, and neither could Gourmand.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Gourmand asked, trying to sound angry and aggressive "Wanna make us surrender to the police and get a reward on our heads?"

"Hmm... That _is_ one tempting suggestion..." The man said, chuckling again "But, this is really not why you are here today, _au contraire..." _He failed to imitate a French accent "... I'd rather be a nice guy and... offer you help."

"_Help?!_ How is this helping us?!" Donita asked indignantly, again trying to free herself from those chains and the man that was holding her "You are _insane_! _A CRIMINAL!" _She shouted again.

"Oh, am I really, Ms. Donata?" The man said in a deeper voice tone, finally turning around to look at the two. He slowly turned his head to them, taking off the dark glasses he was wearing, revealing his light green eyes to them. Their eyes widened as they looked at that man's face. The black, shiny combed hair, the eyes, the pale face, the small chin... Both Donita and Gourmand looked around the pictures in the room and then back to the man, coming to a disturbing conclusion: All those paintings, photos, mosaics, everything represented that one man. They got even more disturbed when the man began to walk towards them, stopping in front of Donita, saying "You trafficked creatures in order to use them as _clothes _and you... as _food_!" He finished, pointing at Gourmand. He, then, walked back to his earlier position, saying "I believe I don't have to remind you that these are both serious environmental crimes... I'm surprised that you two haven't been arrested yet!"

"_You still kidnapped us! It makes you a criminal as well!"_ Gourmand shouted, trying to make the man feel just as wrong as they were.

"In this case, I suppose we are _ALL_ in the same boat..." The man said as he began to walk around Donita and Gourmand at a slow pace "You might refuse to accept it, but you... are no different from _me_!"

"_Wh... What does that mean?"_ Donita said, already freaked out by that man. Instead of answering her question, he said:

"Look at all the things you've done by now... I must admit, you two have real nerve to do such things..." He said as he walked around the two, like a predator surrounds their prey "...But, unfortunately, you two are still mere... _amateurs!_" He finished, standing in front of the big window once again.

"_**Who the hell are you?!"**_ Gourmand yelled, losing his patience. Both him and Donita wanted answers as quickly as possible.

"_Oh!_ My manners, of course... now _let me introduce myself_..." The man said, turning around to look at them with a fake surprise expression "My name is _Zacharias Varmitech_, I am a business man, a collector, and, in my free time... an _inventor_..." He finished, looking at them with a disdain face, like if those qualities made him somehow superior to them.

"An inventor... _You_?" Donita asked, suspiciously "You certainly don't look like an inventor!"

"Well, whether you believe me or not, I still created _those two_ right behind you." He said, shaking his head up in order to make Donita and Gourmand look to the two men in black that, at that point, had already stopped holding them down. They now had the chance to look at those men better, and notice something odd about them: They looked exactly the same. The short combed brown hair, the dark glasses, the black suits with a red tie, and... their faces. You couldn't see any difference between their facial features... and even their expressions. They looked more like statues than humans, because neither Donita nor Gourmand were able to see them breathing. They were just standing, with their hands on their back, staring at the... nothingness.

"What do you mean, _created_ _those_?!" Donita asked, scared and confused "Are you insane or something? You're saying you created _humans_!"

"_Is this a joke or what?!"_ Gourmand asked in an aggressive tone.

"Well, neither this is joke, nor those are... _humans_, exactly..." Varmitech said, in a darker voice tone. He picked up a little shiny controller from inside of one of his coat's deep pockets. And pressed a little red bottom that was in the middle, saying "Gentlemen, if you'd like to show yourselves..."

Then, the two men in black began to move again. They slowly removed their dark glasses, revealing something that made Donita and Gourmand freeze right where they were. Instead of regular human eyes, they had small red glowing light bulbs inside their eyeballs. If that wasn't scary enough, they began to do something even more shocking. Soon, two dark lines appeared in the middle of their faces, dividing them into 4 parts. These parts began to separate themselves, revealing the insides of their heads: Something that looked more like a car engine, hundreds of metal pieces that, somehow, created a human skull shape. Then, this same process happened to their bodies. Those suits that seemed to be real proved to be a mere but extremely realistic cloth disguise for them, because they separated themselves into various parts and began to change into different pieces of different colors. After that, the machine pieces of those things began to change places. Some went up, other down, some to the left, other to the right, some began to rotate, some disappeared and other appeared in their places. Donita and Gourmand watched with wide eyes the transformation of those things into something they had never seen before. Their shoulders got larger, the arms longer, the hands became iron claws, the heads got smaller, and their bodies assumed a strange shape of an upside down cone, and they were no longer touching the floor. Instead of feet, those things had only a red glowing bulb in the very end of their cone-shaped bodies, which seemed to make them able to hover around, without ever having to touch the ground. Soon, their mechanical interior was hidden by shiny metal pieces that began to attach to each other and cover their insides, and their heads assumed a shape that resembled something like a U.F.O. Those things revealed to be some kind of robot, mostly made out of dark shiny metal, with red glowing eyes, flat heads, some kind of tube that replaced mouth and nose. They had long black arms that had the size of the robot's body, and big claws of shiny metal in the place of hands. They finished their transformation with an eye glow and some sort of robotic sound.

"Now say hello to my precious creations..." Mr. Varmitech said, with a big smile "... I call them... _**Zachbots**_..."

"You are mad! This is madness! _Complete madness!_ _**LET ME GO**_!" Donita yelled, panicking. She had already seen enough of that place to have nightmares for the rest of her life.

"Calm yourself, Ms. Donata..." Varmitech said, in an incredibly calm voice tone "Don't you know that it is _impolite_ to make up a scene in someone else's home?" He asked, sarcastically.

"_Just tell us, once for all, what do you want?! Why are you keeping us here?"_ Gourmand shouted, sounding more scared than aggressive this time.

"As I said, I want to help you..." Varmitech began, but he was immediately interrupted by Donita, who yelled once again:

"_HELP?! DO YOU CALL __**THIS**__ HELP?!"_ She screamed "_Kidnapping us like that, creating such freaky robots, and acting like if it was all natural! You should be locked up in a mental hospital!"_ Varmitech, then, lost his patience. He quickly got up and walked in a fast pace towards her, narrowing his eyes and saying, in deep, dark voice tone:

"You miss, are being really ungrateful for everything I've done until now... Both of you!" He said, turning his back to her and walking around them once again "The police is still after you out there, you know? They are tracking you down Mr. Gourmand, and they must be searching your house _at this very moment_, Ms. Donata!" Her eyes went wide when he said that "I could have just let you two rot out there and be arrested, but I decided that you two still have potential to do something more useful... for me..." He finished, looking at them with an expression of someone who had just been offended, but both Donita and Gourmand knew it was fake.

"_How do you know that the police is in my house?!"_ She asked suspiciously.

"I have my contacts... that's all you two need to know..." He began talking once again. Even though he didn't say much, those words were enough to scare them "...What really matters is that, no matter how much you two deny it, you have lost _everything!_" He emphasized the word _"everything"_ in order to make them feel inferior to him "But..." He then said, changing his voice tone "This might not be the end of the line for you two... yet"

"What do you want from us...?!" Donita asked again, in a tone of someone who had lost all hopes. Zacharias simply sighed and began walking once again, this time from one side to the other, at a slow pace.

"Both of you have been in these illegal schemes for some time now..." He began "And, at first, you seemed to handle things pretty well... Now, if I may ask, did you two have any help in these?" Varmitech finished, frowning at the two. Donita and Gourmand didn't know what to say. They didn't trust him enough to tell him the details of their illegal acts.

"Wh... What if we did?" Gourmand asked, now feeling intimidated by the situation. Varmitech began walking once again, with his chin up, and then asked:

"Were there many of them... Where are they right now?" He calmly asked them again.

"What's it got to do with _you_?!" Donita asked, indignantly.

"How do you expect me to help you if you don't want to tell me what I require?" Varmitech asked, in a tone of someone who had just been offended.

"How do _you_ expect us to tell you what we know keeping us tied up like this?" Donita asked, with her voice cracking. She was trying to confront that man, but was also scared of what he could do to her.

"You are really not in the position of complaining, Ms. Donata..." Varmitech began, chuckling, but was interrupted by Gourmand.

"_You haven't helped us in any way until now!"_ Gourmand said, feeling courageous again.

"_While our hands are tied, our mouths will be as well!"_ Donita finally found the courage to say what she wanted. Varmitech looked at her with an aggressive look, making her courage fade. He looked at her with those light green eyes, which appeared to be cursing her. As much as she tried to look away, she just couldn't take her eyes out of his eyes. There was a moment of silence in the room. By the way he looked at her, Donita thought he was going to pull up a gun or something and put end to her life right where she was. She began to tremble with fear, as Varmitech kept staring at her with that aggressive expression. After a few moments of silence, he simply said:

"_Fair enough..."_ He calmly said, snapping his fingers and ordering _"Zachbots... untie them..."_ The two robots behind them slowly began to hover in their direction stopping right beside them. They leaned as their eyes started glowing, shooting a thin red ray at the ropes that tied their hands, burning them.

"_Ow... __**OUCH**__, it's hot!"_ Gourmand yelled in pain while the Zachbots burned the ropes. After a few seconds, their hands were finally free, so they got up once again, and looked at Varmitech with an angry look.

"Now, I will ask you once again..." He said, losing his patience "Did anyone help you or not?"

"Yes... There was help..." Gourmand finally confessed "Some of my men were even arrested... others escaped..."

"Mine are not even here... I don't think they know what's going on..." Donita said in a low voice, as if it embarrassed her.

"Mercenaries, as I see..." Zacharias began talking once again "Could you gather them once again?" He asked.

"...Why? What do you want from them?" Gourmand asked, suspiciously.

"I want you two to move your men to the places I will indicate and then... to continue your work..." Varmitech said, looking at the big window once again.

"What... What do you mean by that?!" Donita asked in disbelief. That insane man wanted them to continue managing their illegal scheme "You want us to do everything we've been doing until now... for you?!" She asked, aggressively.

"I'm sorry, is there any problem?" Varmitech calmly asked her.

"Yes! Of course there is a problem!" Gourmand began, followed by Donita.

"You kept telling us that these were 'serious environmental crimes' and now you have the nerve to tell us to keep committing those for you?!" She said indignantly. Varmitech only chuckled a bit and said:

"You know, this is all a matter of interests..." he began a speech once again "You know, as a man of such class, I have my ambitions... some are easy to achieve, and some others... _are not that easy_..." He finished the sentence with a scary voice tone "I sometimes, in order to achieve these interests, I need some... help... help that I believe you two... with the right incentives, will not refuse to grant me!"

"And what makes you think that they will work for you?!" Donita asked, resistant.

"I don't know if I said it earlier, but... I have money... and also power... I believe it won't take much to make them work again..." He said, frowning. The two didn't know what to say, because they didn't want to work for the guy who kidnapped and took them into an insane house. They stood quiet for a few other moments when Varmitech looked at them again and asked "So, what do you say? Would you like to join my plans?"

"Hmm... sorry, no thanks!" Donita said, in a rather scared voice tone.

"Yeah, we... ah..." Gourmand began, trying to make up some excuse "...we ... already got too much trouble so... aah... we..."

"_Are you sure of your decision?"_ Varmitech slowly asked, with a big scary smile on his face, looking at them with some sort of psychopath expression.

"Yes... yes, we... We'd... like to leave... so..." she mumbled, slowly walking backwards, along with gourmand, towards the door they had come from "If you excuse us... we... we are leaving now... okay?" She finished, avoiding the two Zachbots that were just as static as a rock.

"Hmm... okay then... suit yourselves!" Varmitech shrugged, turning his back to them and staring at the window, with his hands on his back once again "Easy come, easy go..." He said in a rather unusual voice. The two, confused, didn't know what he meant by that, but all they cared about is that they were free once again. So they ran toward the door, which was wide opened. They looked at the corridor in the other side, as if there was a beautiful landscape of freedom. They were almost getting out of that hall when Varmitech said, in a scary voice that echoed through the whole room _"but... I'm afraid I can't let you do that!"_ Suddenly, the door closed by itself with a bang, making both of them stop running, almost hitting their faces on the metal surface. Even thought they couldn't see it, Varmitech was chuckling quietly, while the two desperately tried to pull the iron door handle, unsuccessfully. The two then looked at him with mostly frightened expressions.

"_What are you doing?!"_ Donita asked aggressively _"You said you would let us go!"_

"No, I _**NEVER**_ used these words, miss..." He said.

"Open this door! _**NOW!**_" Gourmand ordered with a scared voice.

"You two apparently didn't yet understand what I really meant" He turned around to look back at them "When I want something... whether it is easy or not to get it... it means that _I WILL_ have it... whether it is for good... or bad..." He said in a scary voice tone "I brought you two here for a reason... and, by now, you should've realized that I don't take '_NO'_ for an answer..." Varmitech slowly began to walk towards them, followed by his Zachbots.

"_You... you can't...!"_ Donita began, babbling with fear.

"Oh, you have no idea of what _I CAN_ do, Ms. Donata..." He said, stepping closer to them. Donita and Gourmand began to walk back as Zacharias came closer, until their backs were almost attached to the metal door.

"_We... we won't work for you...! __**STAY AWAY FROM US!**__"_ Gourmand shouted as his eyes widened to Varmitech and his Zachbots.

"Well, if you two are really not willing to cooperate at this first moment..." He began. The two had the chills when he began that phrase, thinking that he would torture them or something like that. They closed their eyes when Varmitech was about one meter away from them and moved his head closer to their faces "..., I suggest... that we skip to _negotiations_!" Both Donita and Gourmand, then, opened their eyes, moving from frightened to surprised. They certainly did not expect Varmitech to say that.

"Wh... What?!" Donita asked, surprised.

"Well, as I said, this is all a matter of interests... as I'm sure you two have yours, I could certainly help you achieving them, as long as you agree to help me achieve mine as well..." He finished, with a rather annoying smug tone.

"We don't want to work for you, okay...?! We don't!" Donita tried to sound tough and convinced, but she failed at not sounding scared.

"Ah-ah...! Yes you do, just name a price!" Varmitech said, using a fake inviting voice tone "Just tell me! What is it that you two are seeking? Wealth? Goods? Or only the pleasure of hurting those _filthy_ animals?" For their surprise, he now seemed to demonstrate disgust for creatures.

"That's why you want us?!" Donita asked "Because you don't like animals? So you are asking us to kill them for you?!"

"Not kill them, exactly..." He turned his back to them and began walking around the big hall once again, as they followed him with the eyes "...I just need you two to get them for me, so... I can use them in a way in which they can be more... useful, so to speak... And you two seem to have the perfect means to get those _things_..." He finished, clearly showing once again a personal hatred towards animals. Not only that, but they also notice that, as he mentioned creatures, he slowly changed his expression for a deep disgust one. This helped them to create an image of who that man really was, but they still didn't know his true intentions. He was hiding something. Something that, by the way he spoke, seemed to be something really horrible. Something that they would probably rather not know.

"Pardon, but... my only interests are related to fashion... something that _you_ certainly don't understand better than _moi_!" She apparently tried to use her French accent at the wrong time, not that it really meant anything to Varmitech "And for that, I believe it is a waste of your..."

"Oh, trust me, _madam_e; it won't be a waste at all..." He replied the French accent, walking next to her, slowly picking up and kissing her hand, trying to act like a gentleman. For some reason, she knew he was only pretending. Both she and Gourmand could feel it "If clothes are what your wish, you_ will have _them all just for_ you_...!" She, then, pulled her hand away, as if she was feeling insulted by his move.

"And why should _**I**_ trust _**you**_?" She narrowed her eyes to him. Her gesture only made him chuckle, saying.

"Hm-hmm... Because, right now, believe me or not... _I am the only one you can trust!_" He said, smirking at her, and then looking at Gourmand "About you, Mr. Gourmand... I believe that your interests are related to food, am I right...?" He asked.

"I need the animals for my interests. That's all you need to know." He narrowed his eyes as well.

"Well, your wishes _will soon be_ my command..." Varmitech began, walking back to the front of the window "But, only if you attend to these requirements..." They felt a little scared of what he would ask them _"You will obey to every command I give you from now on, without questions or complaints, whether they are from you or your men, for they will be repressed with extreme force..."_ Their eyes widened when he said that _"And your men will be under my command as well, and any kind of insubordination will be handled with maximum severity... If you want me to help you, you MUST follow these requirements..."_ He, then, was interrupted by Donita.

"_**What if we don't want to?!"**_ She asked again, persistent.

"In this case, I believe there will be something useful for you to do somewhere else, like... the jail, for example... I'm sure the police would be very pleased to arres... to see you two again, and you will be very useful for them!" Varmitech threatened them.

"_No... You wouldn't!"_ Donita was now freaked out. If there was a place that she was really scared of, it was the jail.

"What's wrong? After all, you two just broke into my residence and began to threaten my life, ordering all the valuable things in this house..." Varmitech said, trying to imitate a damsel in distress by making female hand movements and making a fake victim voice.

"_What?! You can't accuse as like that!"_ Donita retorted indignantly.

"_We are not burglars!"_ Gourmand yelled.

"Hm... and who do you think the authorities will believe? The two individuals who are currently fugitives in the whole country for environmental crimes, or the innocent wealthy man who simply gives all the money he feels like wasting to the nearest cancer hospital?" Varmitech retorted, using the same victim voice acting when talking about himself. Donita and Gourmand found themselves in a delicate situation: They were being forced to work for a man who not only kidnapped, but was also blackmailing them.

"_But... They won't believe you...! They will know!"_ Gourmand still tried to defend himself. Varmitech only chuckled and replied:

"Oh, my poor fellow, they will. In case of anything, I'm pretty sure I have enough to make them arrest this whole neighborhood at my command!" Varmitech finished. Now he was the one who was trying to sound superior to them. He was, for their misfortune, succeeding.

"You... you will bribe them?" Donita asked in disbelief "This is so not right! You can't control the cops like that!"

"Oh, Ms. Donata... I can own _THE WHOLE POLICE DEPARTMENT _if I wish..." Varmitech shouted this time, making Donita stop talking. She and Gourmand were now cornered "So, Now I shall ask you for the last time... Are you with me, or not?" Varmitech asked again, sound much scarier than before. They were now left without nothing else to say, except for what Varmitech wanted them to say. They stood still for a few moments, which seemed to be an eternity. Every second seemed to last an entire year. To join, or not to join him in his Machiavellian machinations, that is the question. If they said yes, they would be giving up their freedom... A freedom of which they had already lost when they were caught by police with their illegal schemes... If they said no... They would be caught by police and thrown in a maximum security prison or something, where they would probably spend the rest of their days. They minutes went by, and they remained quiet, frozen like a glacier. Varmitech, however, did not seem to care about their delay. Donita didn't know what to do. She didn't want to work for him. At all... She would rather die than surrender that easily for a freaky man... She, then, came to a tough decision. She would refuse it. Whatever happened next, she thought she would be able to, somehow, find a way through it. She felt nervous. As she gathered courage to say what she wanted, she noticed that she was sweating, and it was ruining her makeup, making her even more nervous. A few seconds later, she finally opened her mouth to say what she wanted to say... But then, before she could make any sound, Gourmand went:

"We're doing it..." He said, in a low voice tone, looking down. Donita widened her eyes and looked at him with a furious expression. She couldn't believe in what he had just done.

"_Wh...? 'We'?! 'We' who?!"_ She asked, indignantly. She did not want to let that fat man decide what she would do.

"A wise choice, Mr. Gourmand, a wise choice..." Varmitech said, nodding "I believe that you agree with Mr. Gourmand's decision Ms. Donata" He then looked at her.

"What..? No, I mean, I don't know why he said that, he... he shouldn't have decided for me! It's not like if I... knew him or something...!" She mumbled, trying to resist, being immediately interrupted by Varmitech.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Ms. Donata... I'm sure that, soon, we will be really good friends... Oh yes... hm-hm-hmm..." He chuckled quietly "Now, if you two follow me, there are lots of things I need to show and discuss with you two..." Varmitech finally said, walking towards a black metal door that was in the left side of the room. It automatically opened when he passed, followed by Gourmand, leaving Donita where she was.

"_What...? No... __**NO**__!"_ She groaned when she saw Gourmand walking toward the door which Varmitech had just gone through. She felt like crying. She was still refusing to do what he wanted, but she was put against the wall, being forced to do something she didn't want to. She stayed where she were for a few moments, until she realized that there was nothing she could possibly do about that situation. So, once the conclusion came, she did the only thing she could possibly do in that hopeless situation: She gave up and followed them.

_**===========================================(To be Continued)==================================================**_

_**Woo...! That was tough to write! My longest chapter until now... wow, I made it! I'm so sorry for this huge delay... You guys don't know, but I've been freaking out the previous weeks in order to finish writing this thing... But now I did! And, as I said, there is a little surprise for you all! DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUNNN!**_

_**Guys, I'd like to introduce you to my newest project related to this story, a collaboration with WildKrattsSuperFan1, THE TTCR (To The Creature Rescue) AUDIOBOOK! :D Yes, that's right; I'm working on an audiobook of this story, with the help of WKSF1 for the female parts, and also for the "Fire Within Me" track, her original composition which she kindly let me use as the theme for the audiobook. And, no, this will not only be me and her reading, there will be soundtracks to fit the themes, whether there is sadness, happiness, suspense, hurt, love, there will be tracks for every single moment of the story (*SQUEEEEEEEEEE* I will finally share my tracks with other people! YAY! XD). This will be actually good for me to practice my English (Because, for those of you who don't know, I am Brazilian, so English is definitely not my first language...).**_

_**If you want a sneak peek of what this audiobook will be like, there's a test that I made for Chris' journal in the begging of this chapter. There is already some music :D If you want to see it, go to my Author Profile page because... FF doesn't let me put the link here... sorry guys :( As soon as I finish recording chapter 1, I will post it in my profile page as well, along with the soundtrack list). **__**:D**_

_**So, I hope you all enjoy this just as much as I do, and as always, thanks for reading, and feel free to Rate and Review. :)**_


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